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BX  9418  .P7  1909 

Calvin  memorial  addresses 


John  Calvin 


Ha  nan  Portrait, 


Calvin 
Memorial  Addresses 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  PRESBYTER- 
IAN CHURCH    IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


SAVANNAH,  GA.,   MAY,   1909 


published  by  the 

Presbyterian  Committee  ok  Publication, 

Richmond,  Va. 


Copyright 

— BY — 

R.  E.  MAGILL, 

Secretary  of  Publication. 
1909 


PRESS    OF 

Whittet  &  Shepperson, 
richmond,  va. 


CONTENTS. 

Page 
Introduction,   5 

•J  Calvin's  Contribution  to  the  .Reformation,   ii; 

Rev.  Richard  C.  Reed,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

V  Calvin  the  Theologian,   37 

Rev.  Henry  Collin  Minton,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Calvin's  Contributions  to  Church  Polity, 57 

Rev.  Thomas  Cary  Johnson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D, 

^i  Calvin's    Attitude    Towards    and    Exegesis    of    the 

Scriptures,   89 

Dr.  James  Orr. 

Calvin's  Doctrine  of  Infant  Salvation, 107 

Rev.  R.  A.'-Webb,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

The  Relation  of  Calvin  and  Calvinism  to  Missions,.  .    127 
Rev.  S.  L.  'Morris,  D.  D. 

Calvin's   Influence  on  Educational  Progress,    147 

George  H.  Denny. 

Calvin's   Influence  Upon  the  Political   Development 

of  the  World, 175 

Frank  T.  Glasgow. 


CONTENTS. 

(Continued) 

Page 
How   Far   Has   Original    Calvinism   been   Modified 

by  Time, 195 

Rev.  Samuel  A.  King,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Present  Day  Attitude  to  Calvinism,  223 

Rev.  Benj.  B.'warfield,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

How  May  the  Principles  of  Calvinism  be  Rendered 

Most  Effective  Under  Modern  Conditions,  ....   241 
A.  M. 'Eraser. 


John  Calvin — The  Man  and  His  Times, 261 

Dr.  Charles  Merle  d'  Aubigne. 


First  Presbytekian  Chukch,  Savannah,  Ga. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  in  session  at  Birmingham,  Ala., 
May,  1907,  received  from  the  Executive  Commission 
of  the  Alliance  of  Reformed  Churches  throughout  the 
world  holding  the  Presbyterian  System,  the  following 
communication  relative  to  a  general  observance  of  the 
400th  Anniversary  of  the  birth  of  John  Calvin : 

"The  Executive  Commission  draws  the  attention 
of  the  churches  in  the  Alliance  and  of  all  lovers  of 
true  progress  to  the  approaching  Four  Hundredth  An^ 
niversary  of  the  birth  of  John  Calvin.  The  Reformer 
was  born  at  Noyon,  Picardy,  France,  July  10,  1509. 
His  life  was  lived  during  one  of  the  most  important 
and  crucial  epochs  of  human  history.  In  the  provi- 
dence of  God  he  was  one  of  the  most  potent  forces  of 
his  day  for  human  progress,  and  his  influence  continues 
in  the  present,  and  will  abide  in  the  future,  a  great 
power  for  the  welfare  of  mankind.  Men  of  all  classes 
of  thought  and  of  all  nations  recognize  his  greatness. 
Particularly  was  he  influential  in  setting  in  motion 
those  forces  which  have  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
the  American  nation.  Great  historians  speak  of  him 
as  the  founder  of  the  United  States.  While  thus  con- 
nected, however,  with  the  American  Republic,  the 
great  Genevan  had  and  has  a  vital  relation  to  all  Chris- 
tian nations.  No  man  of  his  age  has  been  more  influ- 
ential in  securing  civil  and  religious  liberty,  the  devel- 


6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

opment  of  popular  government,  the  secular  progress 
of  man,  the  reformation  of  the  Christian  Church,  the 
development  of  religious  thought  along  true  lines,  and 
the  general  advance  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the 
world.     It  is  recommended  : 

That  the  Supreme  Judicatories  of  the  Churches  in 
the  Alliance  be  requested  and  urged  to  take  steps  for 
the  general  observance  by  all  their  congregations  of 
the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  John 
Calvin. 

Overtures  v^ere  received  from  thirteen  presbyteries 
to  the  same  effect. 

In  response  to  these  overtures,  the  following  ad  ifi- 
terim  committee  was  appointed  "to  consider  and  report 
upon  a  plan  for  the  general  celebration  of  the  four 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  John  Calvin 
throughout  our  Church" :  R.  F.  Campbell,  J.  W. 
Stagg,  C.  M.  Richards,  D.  H.  Ogden,  W.  W.  Moore, 
W.  M.  McPheeters,  Geo.  E.  Wilson,  J.  D.  Murphy,  J. 
W.  Faxon,  W.  J.  Martin,  A.  G.  Hall. 

The  Assembly  of  1908,  in  session  at  Greensboro, 
N.  C,  took  the  following  action,  in  accordance  with 
the  recommendation  of  the  ad  interim  committee : 

"The  General  Assembly,  recognizing  the  historic 
significance  of  this  anniversary,  and  the  unusual  oppor- 
tunity afforded  thereby  for  the  vindication,  propaga- 
tion and  inculcation  of  the  great  principles  of  the  Re- 
formed Faith,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  earnestly  desiring,  along  with 
sister  churches  of  the  same  faith  and  order  throughout 
the  world, 


Rev.  W.  Moore  Scott, 
Pastor  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Savannah,  Ga. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  7 

"To  take 
Occasion  by  the  hand  and  make 
The  bounds  of  freedom  wider  yet," 

adopts  the  following  plan  looking  to  the  general  ob- 
servance of  the  Calvin  Quadricentennial  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  United  States : 

I.  All  institutions  of  learning  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Assembly,  under  Presbyterian  auspices,  are  re- 
quested to  consider  the  feasibility  of  arranging  for 
series  of  sermons  and  addresses  bearing  on  the  life 
and  work  of  John  Calvin  at  such  time  or  times  during 
the  year  1909  as  may  be  most  convenient. 

IL  The  Assembly  suggests  that  the  religious 
papers  of  the  church  have  prepared  and  published  in 
their  columns  at  intervals  during  the  year  1909  as 
many  articles  as  possible  relating  to  Calvin  and 
Calvinism. 

III.  The  Assembly  recommends  that  each  Presby- 
tery at  its  meeting  in  the  fall  of  1908  appoint  a  special 
committee  to  arrange  for  a  formal  celebration  of  the 
Calvin  Quadricentennial  at  its  meeting  in  the  spring 
of  1909,  and  to  plan  for  appropriate  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses in  the  individual  churches  of  the  Presbytery 
at  such  time  as  each  church  may  determine,  giving 
preference  to  dates  as  near  as  possible  to  that  of  Cal- 
vin's birth,  July  10. 

IV.  The  Assembly  adopts  the  following  program 
of  exercises  for  the  celebration  of  the  Calvin  Quadri- 
centennial during  the  sessions  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  1909." 


8  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

The  program  referred  to  was  successfully  carried 
out  by  the  Assembly  in  session  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  May 
20th  to  28th,  1909,  and  the  addresses  delivered  on  that 
occasion  are  contained  in  this  volume,  which  is  issued 
by  the  Committee  of  Publication,  in  accordance  with 
the  order  of  the  Assembly. 

R.  F.  CAMPBELL, 
Chairman  of  the  ad  interim  Committee. 

Gavel  Presented. 

A-Ir.  C.  S.  Wood,  who  invited  the  Assembly  to 
Savannah,  presented  to  the  Moderator,  on  behalf  of 
the  Session  of  the  First  Church,  Savannah,  a  historic 
gavel,  made  from  a  beam  taken  from  the  belfry  of  St. 
Peter's  Cathedral,  in  Geneva,  where  John  Calvin 
preached.  A  picture  of  this  gavel  was  published  in  the 
Christian  Observer  of  May  19.  The  address  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

Presentation  Address  By  Charles  S.  Wood. 

Mr.  Moderator:  The  great  honor  and  privilege  has 
been  accorded  me  this  morning  of  investing  you  with 
the  implement  of  authority  that  you  may  successfully 
resume  your  labors  and  properly  transmit  the  office 
of  Moderator  to  your  successor.  The  words  I  must 
submit  have  to  do  with  a  long  and  devious  pathway 
of  history,  even  up  to  this  historic  occasion.  I  shall 
not  depart  from  old  or  modern  methods  if  some  of  the 
threads  of  my  scattered  history  are  spun  of  fancy; 
for  history,  they  say,  is  written  from  facts  and  fancy. 
You  will  discern  the  facts  and  wrestle  with  the  live 
things  of  imagination.     First,  Geneva  is  my  theme. 


Mr.  C.  S.  Wood, 
Who  Presented  to  the  General  Apsembly 
the  Calvin  Gavel. 


Calvin  AIemorial  Addresses  9 

In  the  commentaries  of  Caesar  we  find  the  first 
appearance  of  Geneva  in  history,  "The  most  northerly 
city  of  the  Allabroges."  He  relates  how  he  cut  the 
bridge  over  the  Rhone  in  order  to  prevent  the  passage 
of  the  Helvetes,  B.  C.  58,  intimating  that  the  gods  had 
ordained  its  favorable  destiny — a  statement  of  uncon- 
scious Calvinism.  This  great  soldier  found  then,  as  it 
is  now,  a  city  beautiful  for  situation ;  one  side  guarded 
by  the  undulating  pine-clad  Jura,  another  by  the  ver- 
dant ledges  of  the  Saleve,  with  the  snow-clad  range 
of  Mt.  Blanc  thrown  into  relief  against  the  deep  blue 
sky,  and  fronting  a  lake,  the  matchless  beauty  of  which 
has  never  ceased  to  inspire  painters  and  poets  of  all 
lands. 

In  the  fourth  century  we  find  this  city  and  state 
organized  into  the  first  kingdom  of  Burgundy.  Sub- 
sequently it  came  under  the  control  of  the  Franks  and 
Germans  successively  governed  by  one  or  the  other 
or  by  both  directly  or  indirectly  for  several  hundred 
years.  Early  in  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  remark- 
able for  the  final  struggle  between  the  people  and  the 
partisans  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  the  successes  of  the 
former  becoming  effective  finally  with  the  adoption  of 
the  Reformation,  when  the  Episcopal  authority  was 
abolished. 

About  this  period  of  unrest,  1536,  there  came  to 
Geneva  John  Calvin,  a  refugee  from  Picardy,  already 
celebrated  for  his  bold  utterances  and  distinguished 
for  his  scholarly  accomplishments  in  letters,  law  and 
theology.  He  was  impressed  by  Farel  to  abide  and 
lend  his  wisdom  and  talents  to  the  emergency.  The 
people  accepted  him,  then  exiled  him,  and  at  last  em- 
braced him ;  and  so  the  canton  of  Geneva  became  a 


lo  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

republic,  governed  by  Syndics  and  Councils  elected  by 
the  people.  The  city  quickly  became  famous  through 
Calvin,  whose  influence  now  extended  over  the  whole 
of  Europe  in  Church  and  State  and  public  instruction. 
He  elaborated  civil  and  sumptuary  laws,  investing 
old  institutions  with  a  simplicity  which  attracted  the 
attention  and  obtained  the  support  of  reformers  in  all 
countries.  He  trusted  the  people  to  elect  a  Council, 
competent  to  appoint  the  judges.  He  founded  an 
academy  which  in  modern  times  became  a  university 
of  wide  renown.  He  advocated  the  necessity  of  public 
instruction  to  children  of  tender  years  and  upwards. 

The  great  John  Knox  sat  at  his  feet,  and  subse- 
quently put  the  mantle  of  his  intellect  over  the  hills 
of  Scotland.  He  believed  that  a  child  of  the  Covenant 
should  be  a  child  of  the  Church,  and  but  for  the  fact 
he  was  only  a  man,  he  might  have  settled  the  "Infant 
Clause"  with  which  you  are  troubled  to-day.  As  was 
said  of  the  ancient  roads,  "all  leading  to  Rome,"  so  it 
may  be  said  of  the  modern  theological  roads,  they  all 
lead  to  this  modern  Protestant  Rome,  "The  court  of 
the  Alps."  The  great  Napoleon  found  in  its  possession 
a  resource  for  governmental  adaptation  and  profited 
by  the  study  of  its  institutions.  The  peace  of  Vienna 
sanctioned  its  independence  under  the  present  Swiss 
confederation,  whereby  it  now  constitutes  the  twenty- 
second  canton  of  Switzerland. 

Such  is  my  reference  to  fact,  but  now  I  must  refer 
to  fancy  and  fact  and  then  my  history  will  be  spoken. 
Above  the  Black  Forest  on  the  crest  of  the  mountain, 
near  a  wooded  villa,  where  now  the  iron  steeds  of 
modern  travel  merge  from  the  tunnel  of  the  road  from 
Berne,  there  stood  for  parting  words  a  patriot  youth 


Gavel  Made  from  Wood  from  Tower  of  St.  Peter's  Cathedral, 
Geneva,  Switzerland. 

Presented  to  the  General  Assembly  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  May,  1909. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  H 

and  lover,  June,  1366.  Leagues  of  confederation  had 
been  made  for  fifty  years  between  the  Swiss  States 
and  as  often  broken  through  aHen  interference.  This 
youth  was  the  son  of  Schwyz,  the  loved  was  a  princess 
of  the  House  of  Hapsburg;  then  and  there  was  formed 
a  compact  known  as  the  "Everlasting  League."  They 
melted  their  mutual  sorrows  with  their  mutual  joys 
while  they  listened  to  the  music  of  forest  anthems  and 
watched  the  feathered  songsters  assemble.  Why 
should  not  this  beautiful  land  respond  some  day  in 
accord  with  these  happy  fixtures  of  forest,  flowers  and 
song!  The  patriot  youth  planted  there  a  branch  ana 
called  it  the  twig  of  the  dual  league  and  seal  of  hand 
and  heart,  for  here  will  grow  a  tree,  he  said,  the  boughs 
of  which  shall  shelter  soldiers,  as  these  around  should 
have  done,  but  after,  its  wood  shall  support  the  eternal 
harmony  of  the  music  of  peace  while  it  looks  down 
upon  a  soldier  of  the  Cross  wielding  the  effective 
Sword  of  the  Spirit.  From  this  towering  prospect  with 
a  vast  circumference  of  vision,  these  lovers  looked 
around  them  with  a  radius  of  extended  area,  upon 
mountain  and  meadow,  forest  and  field,  river  and  lake, 
hill  and  dale,  village  and  farm-land,  far  ofif  city  and 
shimmering  water;  and,  in  the  further  language  of  Van 
Dyke,  over  all,  the  westering  sun  wove  a  transparent 
robe  of  gem-like  hues,  forming  a  picture  of  nature, 
every  feature  of  which  was  quivering  and  pulsating 
with  conscious  beauty.  With  what  distinctness  did 
they  look  into  the  future !  Far  out  by  the  distant  lake 
was  the  castle  of  Chillon,  since  made  famous  by  Byron's 
genius,  where  Francois  de  Bonnivard  was  imprisoned 
for  six  cruel  years  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  And  yonder 
was  Vevey,  where  the  weary  traveller  was  wont  to 
sleep  the  "sleep  of  the  just." 


12  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

A  hundred  years  and  more  from  that  date,  in  I470> 
a  sturdy  axeman  felled  a  sturdy  tree  on  this  spot  and 
workmen  placed  a  strong  beam  from  that  tree  in  the 
belfry  of  St.  Peter's  Cathedral,  situated  on  the  central 
plateau  of  Geneva,  first  erected  in  the  tenth  century 
on  the  site  of  an  ancient  pagan  temple,  nearly  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1430,  finally  restored  many  years 
afterwards.  This  timber  beam  was  there  when  Calvin 
taught  and  preached  in  that  famous  cathedral  and  for 
four  hundred  years  it  called  the  worshippers  to  the 
peaceful  shelter  of  the  old  sanctuary.  In  recent  years, 
having  accomplished  its  labors  there,  it  gave  place  to 
modern  beams  in  the  erection  of  a  new  tower  to  con- 
form with  ancient  design  before  the  fire  of  1430.  The 
Administrative  Council  of  Geneva,  now  controlling 
this  building,  through  the  good  offices  of  Francis  B. 
Keene,  the  American  Consul,  presented  this  congrega- 
tion with  a  large  section  of  the  beam,  and  gave  orders 
for  its  shipment.  I  need  not  go  further  than  to  say 
from  this  wood  a  beautiful  gavel  has  been  carved,  de- 
signed on  the  pattern  of  an  altar  with  Ionic  columns. 
On  one  side  the  profile  likeness  of  Calvin,  on  another 
the  famous  Calvin  seal,  the  extended  hand  and  heart, 
surrounded  with  the  motto  "Promte  et  sincere  in  orere 
Domoni,"  and  on  the  other  side  a  bronze  plate  bearing 
this  inscription,  "Wood  from  old  belfry  St.  Peter's 
Cathedral,  Geneva,  where  John  Calvin  preached.  Pre- 
sented by  First  Presb3'terian  Church,  Savannah,  Ga., 
to  the  General  Assembly,  May,  1909." 

In  behalf  of  this  congregation  and  by  order  of  the 
Church  session,  I  now  present  you  with  this  gavel 
with  which  the  deliberations  of  this  Assembly  may  be 
conducted.     The  gavel  is  rather  large,  but  remember, 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  13 

you  have  to  do  with  great  affairs.  If  you  find  that  a 
cunning-  hand  has  made  its  harmony  complete,  the 
symbol  of  united  measures  makes  it  a  souvenir  of  a 
great  past,  and  as  you  see  in  its  design  a  symbol  of 
devotion,  be  reminded  that  the  one  whose  memory  it 
is  intended  to  perpetuate,  laid  his  heart  upon  the 
sacrificial  altar. 


Rev.  R.  C.  Reed,  D.  D. 
Columbia,  S.  C. 


CALVIN'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO    THE 
REFORMATION. 


Rev.  Richard  C.  Reed,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Columbia  Seminary. 

It  will  hardly  be  expected  of  me  to  answer  with 
perfect  precision  the  question,  What  was  John  Calvin'sj 
contribution  to  the  Reformation  of  the  i6th  Century? 
That  mighty  revolution  was  not  the  work  of  one  man, 
nor  of  a  few  men,  but  it  was  wrought  by  the  combined 
labors  of  a  multitude  of  men.  Consequently,  there 
was  the  blending  of  forces,  and  it  would  be  impossible 
to  segregate  the  work  of  the  one  from  the  many,  and 
to  weigh  with  nice  accuracy  the  sum  total  of  influence 
emanating  from  the  single  individual.  Every  actor 
in  the  great  drama  was  acted  on.  He  was  at  the  same 
time  a  generator  and  a  transmitter  of  power.  Only 
an  omniscient  eye  could  separate  the  intermingling 
currents,  and  trace  each  to  its  true  source.  Neverthe- 
less, John  Calvin  stands  out  with  marked  distinctness, 
from  his  colaborers,  and  we  can  specify  the  most  im- 
portant things  which  he  did,  and  estimate  with  some 
approach  to  accuracy  the  value  of  these  as  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  great  movement. 

Calvin  was  a  mere  lad,  eight  years  old,  when,  on 
the  31st  of  October,  15 17,  Martin  Luther  struck  the 
blow  that  marked  the  birth-throes  of  the  Reformation. 
While  he  was  growing  to  man's  estate,  there  followed 
thick  and  fast  the  thrilling  events  of  an  ever-expanding 
struggle.    In  Germany  there  was  the  disputation  with 


i6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Eck,  the  excommunication,  the  burning  of  the  bull,  the 
diet  of  Worms,  the  Knight's  war,  the  Peasant's  war, 
the  Protest  of  Spiers,  the  Augsburg  Confession,  the 
Smalcald  League;  in  Switzerland,  the  eloquent  voice 
of  the  noble,  patriotic  Zwingle  had  stirred  the  hearts 
of  his  fellow-countrymen,  and  the  War  with  Rome  was 
on  in  earnest.  While  Calvin  was  growing  to  man's 
estate,  there  were  fifteen  years  of  noise  and  tumult, 
of  high  and  hot  debates,  of  diets  and  edicts,  of  terrible 
anathemas,  and  bold  defiance,  with  the  result  that 
nearly  the  whole  of  North  Germany,  the  Scandinavian 
countries  and  many  of  the  cantons  of  Switzerland  were 
hopelessly  lost  to  the  Papacy.  The  Reformed  Faith 
was  still  spreading.  In  thousands  of  hearts  the  dawn 
was  breaking,  fresh  life  was  throbbing,  heaven-born 
hopes  were  kindling.  But  the  war  was  still  on. 
Martyr  fires  were  burning  in  France,  in  the  Nether- 
lands, in  England  and  Scotland.  The  life-blood  of 
Zwingle  had  stained  the  battlefield  of  Cappell ;  and 
nowhere  outside  of  Germany  was  there  a  man  gifted 
with  powers  of  leadership,  and  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  God,  who  could  point  the  way,  and  lead  these  newly 
emancipated  souls  out  of  the  wilderness  into  the  prom- 
ised rest.  Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  John 
Calvin,  having  reached  the  age  of  23,  and  having  been 
trained  in  the  best  schools  of  France  for  the  role  he 
was  to  play,  was  born  into  the  Kingdom  of  God.  It 
had  not  yet  been  determined  whether  Luther  was  to 
be  the  hero  of  a  great  success  or  the  victim  of  a  great 
failure. 

Just  when  and  where  and  under  what  circumstances 
Calvin  was  converted,  the  most  diligent  students  of 
his  life  have  not  been  able  to  discover.  He  is  silent 
touching  time,   place   and   circumstance.     He   is   not 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  17 

silent  touching  the  fact,  and  that  is  the  great  thing — 
one  of  the  greatest  things  of  the  kind  that  has  hap- 
pened since  Jesus  met  Saul  of  Tarsus  near  the  gates 
of  Damascus.  Calvin  speaks  of  his  conversion  as  sud- 
den. However  sudden,  it  was  thorough,  lifting  him 
at  once  and  forever  out  of  the  superstitions  of  Popery 
into  the  clear,  radiant  light  of  the  Gospel.  Calvin  was 
not  only  certain  of  his  conversion,  but  he  was  equally 
certain  that  his  conversion  was  the  work  of  God,  and 
was  an  act  of  His  sovereign,  electing  grace.  This  con- 
stituted both  his  fitness  and  his  call  to  service.  His 
doctrine  was  that  election  unto  eternal  life  meant  elec- 
tion to  eternal  obedience. 

Immediately  he  began  to  make  his  contribution  to 
the  Reformation.  "A  year  had  not  elapsed,"  he  says, 
"when  all  who  were  desirous  of  purer  doctrine  were 
continually  coming  to  learn  of  me  while  as  yet  but  a 
novice  and  a  tyro."  He  tried  to  hide  himself,  "but 
this  was  so  far  from  being  permitted  to  me  that  all  of 
my  retreats  were  like  a  public  lecture  room."  "Men 
do  not  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a  bushel."  Men 
were  groping  in  darkness,  yearning  for  the  light,  and 
God  set  John  Calvin  on  a  candlestick,  and  constrained 
him,  however  reluctantly,  to  give  light  to  all  who 
were  in  the  house. 

I  feel  that  I  can  best  serve  the  demands  of  this  oc- 
casion by  not  attempting  too  much.  I  shall  select, 
therefore,  for  consideration  only  the  most  signal  con- 
tributions which  Calvin  made  to  the  Reformation. 
I.  His  Theological  and  Exegetical  Writings.  H.  His 
Church  Polity  and  Genevan  Reformation.  HI.  His 
Educational  Measures  and  Correspondence. 

I.  His  Theological  and  Exegetical  Writings.  He  was 
at  Paris  when  he  cast  in  his  lot  with  those  who  were 


i8  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

breaking  away  from  the  old  faith  ;  and  consequently 
in  the  midst  of  enemies  who  were  alert  to  detect  and 
to  suppress  every  outcropping  of  heresy.  His  life  was 
soon  in  danger  and  he  fled  in  disguise.  In  1535,  we 
find  him  at  Basle,  Switzerland.  The  gracious  Provi- 
dence of  God  could  not  have  done  him  a  greater  kinci- 
ness  than  to  direct  his  footsteps  to  this  spot.  It  fur- 
nished just  the  secure  retreat  and  the  literary  atmos- 
phere which  his  retiring  nature  and  his  scholarly 
tastes  craved.  We  might  expect  him  to  make  this  his 
permanent  resting  place,  and  we  find  that  he  had 
planned  to  do  this  at  a  later  day.  For  the  present  he 
has  brought  in  his  heart  to  this  paradise  of  the  schol- 
arly recluse  the  sorrows  of  his  suffering  fellow-coun- 
trymen. The  King,  the  Parliament,  the  University  of 
Paris,  the  Sorbonne,  were  roasting  some  of  these  over 
slow  fires.  Not  content  with  this,  they  were  putting 
upon  their  names  and  memories  the  most  base  and 
unjust  accusations.  They  spread  abroad  the  report 
that  these  saintly  martyrs  were  fanatical  anabaptists, 
whose  turbulent  and  disorderly  lives  were  a  menace 
to  society.  They  were  especially  concerned  to  have 
these  slanders  believed  by  the  Lutherans  of  Germany, 
whose  friendship  the  King  was  courting  for  political 
purposes.  This  was  more  than  Calvin  could  silently 
endure.  He  must  speak  a  word  in  their  defense.  Such 
was  the  origin  of  the  first  edition  of  his  Institutes  of 
the  Christian  Religion. 

It  was  a  brief  manual  as  published  at  that  time,  and 
was  published  for  no  other  reason,  as  Calvin  avers, 
than  to  bear  witness  to  the  faith  of  those  whom  he 
saw  basely  maligned.  He  was  not  attempting  to  do  a 
great  thing,  nor  did  he  suppose,  when  he  put  forth 
his  little  book  that  he  had  done  a  great  thing.     So 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  19 

far  was  he  from  seeking  fame  from  it  that  he  sHpped 
away  from  Basle  without  anyone's  knowing  that  he 
was  the  author  of  it,  and  resolved  that  he  would  keep 
it  a  secret  elsewhere,  as  it  was  his  purpose  to  avoid 
taking  open  part  in  the  fierce  religious  war  that  was 
raging  around  him.  But  at  once  the  lovers  of  evan- 
gelical truth  saw  the  value  of  this  book.  It  met,  as  no 
other  writing  had  yet  met,  the  most  exigent  need  of 
the  times.  It  did  for  struggling  Protestantism  what 
the  Council  of  Trent  later  did  for  Rome,  defined  clearly 
the  issue.  It  put  into  lucid,  logical  and  succinct  form, 
with  solid  scriptural  basis,  the  doctrines  over  which 
the  tremendous  conflict  was  waging.  Friend  and  foe 
alike  could  see  just  what  it  was  that  some  men  were 
willing  to  die  for,  just  what  it  was  that  other  men 
were  willing  to  make  them  die  for. 

Calvin  dedicated  the  book  to  the  King  of  France 
in  a  preface  which  for  manly  frankness,  sustained  elo- 
quence, directness  and  pathos,  has  never  been  sur- 
passed. If  it  had  been  in  the  power  of  words  to  touch 
the  King's  heart,  and  secure  for  his  suffering  subjects 
a  fair  and  just  treatment,  this  appeal  would  not  have 
been  in  vain.  But  the  proud  monarch  had  already 
chosen  his  ground.  Having  decided  that  the  safety 
of  his  kingdom  required  that  there  should  be  "un  roi, 
nil  hi,  un  foi,"  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  and  held  on  his 
ill-starred  course.  Other  ears  however  heard,  other 
hearts  felt,  and  from  the  day  that  the  Institutes  of  the 
Christian  Religion  saw  the  light,  the  champions  of  Re- 
form knew  that  a  power  had  been  added  to  their  cause 
which  would  be  felt  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the 
other. 

In  respect  to  the  dominance  and  extent  of  their 
influence  only  two  theologians  in   the  history  of  the 


20  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Church  can  be  placed  by  the  side  of  Calvin — St.  Augus- 
tine and  Thomas  Aquinas.  By  common  consent,  these 
three  have  been  lifted  to  a  solitary  eminence  of  fame. 
Without  claiming  for  Calvin  greater  genius  than  the 
other  two,  no  Protestant  can  hesitate  to  claim  for 
him  a  more  intelligent  and  unbiased  devotion  to  the 
word  of  God,  the  one  exclusive  source  of  all  true 
theology.  Both  Augustine  and  Aquinas  were  in  slav- 
ish subjection  to  the  Church,  and  it  was  impossible 
for  them  to  elaborate  a  system  of  doctrine  that  would 
not  be  darkly  shaded,  and  fatally  distorted  by  the 
great  and  manifold  errors  which  had  been  embraced, 
and  consequently  hallowed  for  them  by  the  authority 
of  the  Church.  In  contrast  with  these,  Calvin,  with 
mind  freed  from  the  trammels  of  tradition  and  super- 
stition, freed  from  the  doctrines  and  commandments 
of  men,  bowed  with  absolute  and  undivided  reverence 
before  the  living  oracles,  and,  discarding  speculation, 
drew  from  these  alone  the  doctrines  out  of  which  he 
constructed  his  matchless  Systein.  The  value  of  such 
a  gift  to  the  Reformation  can  not  easily  be  exaggerated. 
Protestants  and  Romanists  bore  equal  testimony  to  its 
worth.  The  one  hailed  it  as  the  greatest  boon ;  the 
other  execrated  it  with  the  bitterest  curses.  It  was 
burnt  by  order  of  the  Sorbonne  at  Paris  and  other 
places,  and  everywhere  it  called  forth  the  fiercest  as- 
saults of  tongue  and  pen.  Florimond  de  Raemond,  a 
Roman  Catholic  theologian,  calls  it  "the  Koran,  the 
Talmud  of  heresy,  the  foremost  cause  of  our  down- 
fall." Kampschulte,  another  Roman  Catholic  testifies 
that  "it  was  the  common  arsenal  from  which  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  Old  Church  borrowed  their  keenest 
weapons,"  and  that  "no  writing  of  the  Reformation 
era  was  more  feared  by  Roman  Catholics,  more  zeal- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  21 

ously  fought  against,  and  more  hostilely  pursued  than 
Calvin's  Institutes."  Its  popularity  was  evidenced  by 
the  fact  that  edition  followed  edition  in  quick  succes- 
sion;  it  was  translated  into  most  of  the  languages  of 
western  Europe ;  it  became  the  common  text-book  in 
the  schools  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  furnished 
the  material  out  of  which  their  creeds  were  made. 

Perhaps  we  should  name  this  book  in  its  final  and 
enlarged  form  as  the  greatest  contribution  that  Calvin 
made  to  the  Reformation.  It  controlled  or  colored, 
moulded  or  guided,  the  theological  thinking  for  the 
next  hundred  years  of  all  the  countries  that  adopted 
the  Reformed  faith.  Not  yet  have  the  Protestant 
churches  grown  away  from  it,  nor  will  they  leave  it 
behind  so  long  as  the  Pauline  conception  of  the  Gospel 
continues  to  command  the  homage  of  Christian  stu- 
dents. Its  comprehensive  mastery  of  Biblical  and 
Patristic  lore,  its  logical  strength  and  coherence,  its 
pure  and  elevated  style,  its  reverend  tone,  its  freedom 
from  scientific  technicalities  must  ever  secure  for  it  a 
prominent  place  in  the  regard  of  all  who  have  a  taste 
for  theological  studies. 

Three  years  after  the  first  edition  of  the  Institutes 
issued  from  the  press,  Calvin  published  the  first  volume 
of  his  commentaries  on  the  Scriptures.  This  was  on 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  was  followed  by  other 
volumes  from  time  to  time  throughout  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  The  completed  series,  as  published  in 
English  translation,  comprises  forty-five  portly  vol- 
umes and  covers  nearly  the  whole  of  both  Old  and 
New  'Testaments.  Viewed  in  connection  with  the 
other  labors  of  Calvin,  the  magnitude  of  this  work  is 
nothing  less  than  marvellous.  It  Avas  not  the  magni- 
tude, however,  but  the  quality  of  this  splendid  series 


22  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

which  gave  it  a  permanent  place  in  the  front  rank  of 
exegetical  works  on  the  Scriptures.  The  style  which 
Calvin  proposed  to  himself  was  comprehensive  brevity, 
transparent  clearness  and  strict  adherence  to  the  spirit 
and  letter  of  the  author.  The  best  description  of  the 
result  is  to  say  that  Calvin  accomplished  what  he 
intended  to  do. 

To  estimate  the  service  which  he  rendered  to  the 
Reformation  by  these  commentaries,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  commentaries  based  on  correct  principles 
of  exegesis  were  rare  in  that  day.  Calvin  has  indeed 
been  called  the  founder  of  that  method  of  exegesis 
which  stresses  dictionary,  grammar  and  history.  He 
led  the  way  in  discarding  the  custom  of  allegorizing 
the  Scriptures,  a  custom  which  had  come  down  from 
the  earliest  centuries  of  Christianity  and  which  had 
been  sanctioned  by  the  greatest  names  in  the  Church, 
from  Origen  to  Luther,  a  custom  which  converts  the 
Bible  into  a  nose  of  wax,  and  makes  a  lively  fancy 
the  prime  qualification  of  an  exegete.  Calvin  proceeded 
on  the  sound  assumption  that  the  writers  of  the  Bible, 
like  all  other  sensible  writers,  had  in  mind  one  definite 
thought,  and  that  they  used  language  in  its  natural, 
everyday  meaning  to  express  this  thought.  "I  ac- 
knowledge," he  says,  "that  Scripture  is  a  most  rich  and 
inexhaustible  fountain  of  all  wisdom,  but  I  deny  that 
its  fertility  consists  in  the  various  meanings  which 
any  man  at  his  pleasure  may  put  into  it.  Let  us  know, 
then,  that  the  true  meaning  of  Scripture  is  the  natural 
and  obvious  meaning;  and  let  us  embrace  and  abide 
by  it  resolutely.  Let  us  not  only  refuse  as  doubtful, 
but  boldly  set  aside  as  deadly  corruption  those  pre- 
tended expositions  of  Scripture  which  lead  us  away 
from   the   natural    meaning."      In   addition   to   correct 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  23 

principles  of  hermaneutics,  Calvin  brought  to  his  task 
ample  learning,  deep  spiritual  insight  and  a  heart  that 
delighted  in  the  work.  The  word  of  God  was  to  him 
"more  precious  than  gold,  yea,  much  fine  gold,  sweeter 
also  than  honey  and  the  honeycomb."  If  he  ever  did 
any  work  con  amorc,  it  was  the  work  of  studying  and 
expounding  the  Scriptures. 

The  way  in  which  the  commentaries  were  received, 
and  the  influence  allowed  to  them  are  sufficiently  indi- 
cated   by    a    statement    in    a    MS.    note    quoted    from 
Hooker.      "The   sense   of   Scripture   which   Calvin   al- 
loweth  was  held  in  the  Anglican  Church  to  be  of  more 
force  than  if  ten  thousand  Augustines,  Jeromes,  Chry- 
sostomes,  Cyprians  were  brought  forth."    If  such  was 
the  weight  allowed  to  Calvin  in  the  Anglican  Church, 
much    given    to    reverence    for    the    fathers,    we    can 
hardly   overstate   the   weight   attached   to   his   exposi- 
tions in  the  Reformed  Churches,  made  up  of  those  who 
were  altogether  willing  to  be  known  as  his  disciples. 
I   can  not  dwell   upon  all  the  writings  of  Calvin, 
but  must  pass  over  many  that  exerted  a  profound  and 
wide    influence — his    catechisms,    sermons,    treatise    on 
the  Lord's  Supper  and  many  other  minor  works  that 
did   much  to  fashion  the  views  of  his  day.     I   must, 
however,    say   a    word    about    some    of   his    polemical 
writings,    aimed    directly    at    Rome.      His    "Reply    to 
Cardinal    Sadolet,"    his    tract    "On    the    Necessity   of 
Reformation,"  and  his  sarcastic  "Admonition  showing 
the  advantages  which  Christendom  might  derive  from 
an  Inventory  of  Relics,"  were  merciless  exposures  of 
the  corrupt  and  corrupting  doctrines  and  practices  of 
the    Romish    Church.      These    not    only    inspired    the 
friends    of    Reform,    but    furnished    them    their    most 
deadly  ammunition.    What  Luther  said  of  one  of  these 


^4  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

writings  might,  with  truth,  have  been  said  of  them  all : 
"They  had  hands  and  feet" — they  could  smite  and  they 
could  travel.  Calvin  took  occasion  in  all  of  his  writ- 
ings to  uncover  the  hideous  deformities  of  the  Papacy, 
and  he  did  it  with  such  telling  effect  as  to  make  himself 
the  most  hated  man  of  the  Reformation  period.  It 
was  early  recognized  that  as  a  controversialist,  in 
which  intellectual  force,  a  well-disciplined  mind,  and 
keen  powers  of  analysis  are  supreme  requisites,  Calvin 
stood  out,  the  most  formidable  antagonist  with  which 
the  enemies  of  the  Reformation  had  to  contend. 

II.  His  Church  Polity  and  Genevan  Reformation. 
In  1536,  when  Calvin  set  foot  in  Geneva,  he  had 
reached  the  spot  which  God  had  predestined  as  the 
field  of  his  life-work.  His  fellow-countryman,  William 
Farel,  had  prepared  the  way  for  him  by  battering  down 
the  strongholds  of  Popery  and  securing  freedom  for 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  For  two  years  these  earnest 
fellow-laborers  not  only  preached  the  pure  gospel,  but 
they  tried  by  calling  in  the  aid  of  Caesar,  to  make  the 
people  of  Geneva  live  the  pure  gospel.  The  yoke  was 
found  to  be  too  heavy,  and  so  the  people  deposed  the 
preachers  and  drove  them  out.  This,  however,  was  but 
an  episode.  Calvin's  field  was  Geneva.  A  brief  experi- 
ence of  anarchy,  following  his  expulsion,  convinced  the 
Genevese  that  they  had  separated  what  God  had 
joined  together.  Deeply  penitent,  they  pleaded  for  his 
return.  The  prospect  ofifered  to  Calvin  nothing  but  a 
life  of  prolonged  crucifixion,  but  the  call  was  too  mani- 
festly from  God  for  him  to  resist  it. 

He  entered  Geneva  a  second  time  in  the  fall  of 
1541.  He  was  just  32  years  old,  when  it  was  recog- 
nized by  both  parties  that  they  belonged  by  divine  ap- 
pointment to  each  other.     Certainly  no  young  man, 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  25 

standing  practically  alone,  ever  confronted  a  more 
formidable  task  than  that  which  now  confronted  this 
ardent  reformer.  He  faced  "a  tottering-  republic,  a 
wavering  faith  and  a  nascent  church."  His  first  con- 
cern, of  course,  was  with  the  Church,  and  his  first  con- 
cern for  the  Church  was  to  provide  for  it  an  organiza- 
tion. Fortunately,  during  the  period  of  his  recent  ban- 
ishment, he  found  time  to  mature  his  views  on  church 
government.  He  had  just  published  these  views  in 
the  fourth  book  of  the  second  edition  of  his  Institutes. 
He  knew,  therefore,  as  he  confronted  the  situation  in 
Geneva,  just  what  he  wanted.  At  once,  on  his  arrival, 
he  waited  on  the  Civil  Council  and  asked  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  commission  to  draft  the  ordinances  for 
the  government  of  the  Church.  He  was  appointed  on 
the  commission  and  the  work  was  his.  But  before  the 
ordinances  were  adopted,  and  put  into  effect,  they  were 
modified,  so  that  we  do  not  see  in  the  Genevan  Church 
an  exact  realization  of  the  theory  set  forth  in  the 
Institutes. 

'Without  going  into  any  analysis  of  these  ordi- 
nances, we  may  say  that  they  embodied  the  following 
fundamental  principles.  First,  clear  distinction  be- 
tween Church  and  State;  second,  as  permanent  officers 
of  the  Church,  pastors,  ruling  elders,  and  deacons ; 
third,  the  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  power  by  a  court 
composed  of  pastors  and  ruling  elders ;  fourth,  unity 
of  the  Church  to  be  realized  by  placing  a  number  of 
congregations  under  the  jurisdiction  of  one  court.  In 
the  application  of  these  principles,  in  Geneva,  the 
civil  government  took  a  hand  and  prevented  Calvin 
from  realizing  his  ideal.  It  must  also  be  said  that  his 
ideal  was  not  exactly  our  ideal.  vStill,  these  four  funda- 
mental  principles   are  the   fundamental   principles   of 


2.6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Presbyterianism,  and  hence  this  church  may  rightly 
be  called  the  mother  church  of  all  modern  Presbyte- 
rian and  Reformed  churches. 

If  Calvin's  church  polity  was  not  his  greatest  con- 
tribution to  the  Reformation,  it  was  certainly  his  most 
original  contribution.  His  system  of  theology  was  not 
new ;  his  church  polity  was.  There  was  nothing  even 
remotely  like  it  in  the  bounds  of  Christendom.  It 
differed  radically  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
the  Episcopal  Church  of  England,  the  Lutheran 
churches  of  Germany,  and  the  Zwinglian,  or  Reformed 
churches  of  Switzerland.  So  far  was  Calvin  from  copy- 
ing any  existing  form  that  he  did  not  even  borrow  from 
any  existing  form.  Where,  then,  did  he  get  the  forni 
of  his  church  organization?  He  went  to  the  same 
source  from  which  he  drew  his  system  of  theology — 
the  word  of  God.  Whatever  we  may  be  in  this  de- 
generate day,  John  Calvin  was,  wfth  all  his  soul,  a 
jus  divinum  Presbyterian.  What  he  proposed  to  do, 
what  he  believed  he  did  and  what  I  believe  he  did,  was 
to  bring  once  again  to  the  light  of  day  and  make  effec- 
tive those  inspired  principles  of  church  government, 
laid  down  by  the  apostles,  which  had  for  centuries 
been  buried  under  the  colossal  structure  of  Papal  des- 
potism. Calvin  was  a  high-churchman  in  the  sense 
that  he  cherished  a  profound  reverence  for  the  visible 
church,  as  an  institution  of  Christ,  endowed  with  rare 
prerogatives,  and  discharging  vital  functions.  "We  may 
learn,"  he  says,  "from  the  title  mother  how  useful  and 
even  necessary  it  is  for  us  to  know  her ;  since  there  is 
no  other  way  of  entrance  into  life  unless'  we  are  con- 
ceived by  her,  born  of  her,  nourished  at  her  breast, 
and  continually  preserved  under  her  care  and  govern- 
ment till  we  are  divested  of  this  mortal  flesh  and  be- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  27 

come  like  the  angels."  With  such  views  of  the  church, 
he  naturally  assumed  that  God  had  not  left  the  form 
of  its  organization  to  the  device  of  man.  He  never 
had  any  misgivings  touching  the  Scriptural  basis,  ana 
therefore  the  divine  origin  of  the  church  polity  which 
he  provided  for  the  city  of  Geneva.  Moreover,  he 
secured  from  the  whole  city,  through  its  representa- 
tives, an  expression  of  the  same  conviction.  In  the 
preface  to  the  ordinances  they  say,  "We  have  ordaineci 
and  established  to  follow  and  to  keep  in  our  town  and 
territory  the  ecclesiastical  polity  following,  zvhich  is 
taken  out  of  the  gospel  of  Christ."  The  convictions  of 
the  people  were  shallow,  not  so  Calvin's  convictiou. 
Consequently,  to  make  this  church  polity  effective,  he 
consented  to  wrestle  with  the  turbulent  democracy  01 
Geneva,  and  for  years  to  live  over  the  thin  crust  of 
a  rumbling  volcano.  John  Calvin  alone  of  the  Re- 
formers found  his  chief  foes,  his  most  relentless  foes, 
to  be  those  of  his  own  household.  The  reason  was  that 
he  alone  of  the  Reformers  set  to  work  with  a  resolution 
"fixed  as  the  stars,"  to  rule  his  own  household  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  God. 

Certainly  it  was  no  slight  contribution  which  John 
Calvin  made  to  the  Reformation  when  he  gave  to  it 
a  restored  Apostolic  Presbyterianism.  In  connection 
with  this,  and  perhaps  we  might  say  as  a  part  of  this, 
he  gave  to  the  Reformation  a  demonstration  of  the 
value  of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  For  a  thousand  years 
and  more  there  had  been  a  lamentable  divorce  of  reli- 
gion from  morals.  The  church  had  not  drifted  further 
away  from  the  doctrinal  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment than  from  its  ethical  standards.  Piety  of  heart 
and  purity  of  life  were  no  longer  associated  with  the 
Christian  profession.    It  was  not  enough  for  the  church 


28  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

to  grant  tolerance  to  all  forms  of  immorality  among 
the  private  members,  but  it  went  so  far  as  to  enthrone 
iniquity  in  its  highest  ofifices.  What  sins  in  the  whole 
history  of  human  depravity,  more  gross  and  more 
offensive  than  those  which  soiled  the  lives  of  such 
Popes  as  John  XXIII.  and  Alexander  VI.  When,  as 
frequently  happened,  the  head  of  the  church,  allowed 
to  be  the  vicar  of  Christ,  set  an  example  of  shameless 
debauchery,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  general  state 
of  morals  throughout  Catholic  Europe  was  almost  in- 
tolerable. John  Calvin  believed  that  reforming  the 
church  meant  not  merely  the  restoration  of  a  pure 
doctrine  and  a  pure  worship,  but  above  all  and  as  the 
end  of  all,  the  restoration  of  the  morals  enjoined  in 
the  Word  of  God.  He  purposed  to  establish  a  church 
which  should  not  only  glorify  orthodoxy  by  the  pro- 
fession of  a  true  creed,  but  which  should  glorify  Goi 
by  the  practice  of  holy  living.  He  determined  to  draw 
the  line  so  that  all  might  discern  between  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked,  between  him  that  serveth  God  and 
him  that  serveth  Him  not.  Moreover  he  insisted  that 
the  church  must  be  the  sole  judge  of  the  qualification 
of  its  own  members. 

There  may  seem  to  us  no  novelty  in  such  a  con- 
ception of  the  church  and  its  functions.  Such  a  con- 
ception may  commend  itself  to  us  as  so  manifestly 
just  and  true  as  to  hardly  deserve  mention.  But  this 
only  shows  how  far  we  have  travelled  since  Calvin's 
day.  He  was  the  first  of  the  Reformers  to  demand 
for  the  church  complete  separation  from  the  State, 
with  the  right  of  untrammelled  discipline  over  its  mem- 
bers. He  was  the  first  of  the  Reformers  who  actually 
inaugurated  a  system  of  discipline  which  was  designed 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  29 

to  make  the  church  a  mighty  witness  to  the  ethical 
purity  of  the  gospel  of  Christ, 

Calvin  lived  to  demonstrate  the  value  of  this  con- 
tribution to  the  Reformation.  When  God  gave 
Geneva  to  Calvin,  He  gave  him  a  field  that  would  put 
his  reforming  principles  to  a  crucial  test.  "The  Gene- 
vese,"  says  an  eminent  writer,  "were  a  light-hearted, 
joyous  people,  fond  of  public  amusement,  dancing,  sing- 
ings, masquerades,  and  reveleries.  Reckless  gambling, 
drunkenness,  adultery,  blasphemy,  and  all  sorts  of 
vice  abounded.  Prostitution  was  sanctioned  by  the 
authority  of  the  State,  and  superintended  by  a  woman 
called  the  Rciiie  du  hordcl.  The  people  were  ignorant. 
The  priest  had  taken  no  pains  to  instruct  them,  and 
had  set  them  a  bad  example."  Just  how  bad  the  ey*- 
ample  set  by  the  priests,  the  writer  does  not  tell  us, 
but  we  learn  from  other  sources.  Shortly  before  Cal- 
vin went  there,  the  monks  and  even  the  bishop  were 
guilty  of  crimes,  for  which  in  our  day,  hanging  is  not 
adjudged  too  severe  a  penalty.  In  that  age  of  relaxed 
morals,  there  were  few,  if  any,  cities  in  Europe  more 
wicked  than  the  one  which  Calvin  set  himself,  with 
God's  help,  to  reform.  For  fifteen  years  he  fought  a 
doubtful  battle,  the  scale  of  victory  frequently  in- 
clining against  him.  In  1547,  he  wrote  to  Viret: 
"Wickedness  has  now  reached  such  a  pitch  here  that 
I  hardly  hope  that  the  church  can  be  upheld  much 
longer,  at  least  by  means  of  my  ministry.  Believe  me, 
my  power  is  broken,  unless  God  stretch  forth  His 
hand."  Eight  years  more  of  unyielding,  unflinching, 
uncompromising  struggle,  vibrating  between  hope  and 
despair,  victory  and  defeat,  and  then  the  climax  and 
crisis  of  the  battle  was  reached.  Calvin  believed  that 
he  was  going  down,  but  he  harbored  not  for  one  mo- 


30  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

ment  the  thought  of  striking  his  colors.  He  preached 
his  farewell  sermon  expecting  banishment  on  the  mor- 
row. But  the  trembling  scale  turned  in  his  favor,  and 
for  the  short  remainder  of  his  life,  about  nine  years, 
he  was  left  the  undisputed  master  of  the  city. 

If  his  theology  was  his  greatest  contribution,  and 
his  church  polity  his  most  original  contribution,  we 
may  safely  say  that  his  demonstration  of  the  value  of 
discipline  was  his  most  costly  contribution  to  the 
Reformation.  He  has  been  persistently  reproached 
and  sometimes  maliciously  censured  for  burning  Ser- 
vetus.  Grant  that  he  was  responsible  for  the  death  of 
Servetus,  and  that  he  ought  not  to  have  prosecuted 
him  before  the  civil  tribunal,  this  should  not  be  for- 
gotten, that  he  was  at  that  time  standing  in  the  midst 
of  enemies,  numerous  and  powerful,  who  would  gladly 
have  substituted  him  for  Servetus,  because  of  his  vm- 
paralleled  zeal  for  righteousness.  For  years  he  im- 
perilled his  life  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  might 
see  the  glory  of  the  gospel  reflected  in  the  life  of 
Geneva. 

Were  the  results  such  as  to  vindicate  the  wisdom  of 
Calvin  and  the  efificiency  of  his  methods?  The  answer 
is  that  Geneva  became  more  famed  for  the  quiet,  or- 
derly and  moral  lives  of  its  citizens  than  it  had  pre- 
viously been  for  their  wickedness.  John  Knox,  who 
lived  in  Geneva  for  several  years,  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
1556:  "In  my  heart  I  could  have  wished,  yea,  I  can 
not  cease  to  wish,  that  it  might  please  God  to  guide 
and  conduct  yourself  to  this  place,  where  I  neither 
fear  nor  am  ashamed  to  say,  is  the  most  perfect  school 
of  Christ  that  ever  was  on  the  earth  since  the  days  of 
the  Apostles.  In  other  places  I  confess  Christ  to  be 
truly  preached ;  but   manners   and   religion   to   be   so 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  31 

seriously  reformed,  I  have  not  yet  seen  in  any  other 
place  besides."  Dr.  Philip  Schaff,  born  and  reared 
in  Switzerland,  with  every  qualification  for  forming  a 
trustworthy  judgment  says:  "If  ever  in  this  wicked 
world,  the  ideal  of  Christian  society  can  be  realized  in 
a  civil  community  with  a  mixed  population,  it  was  in 
Geneva,  from  the  middle  of  the  i6th  to  the  middle  of 
the  i8th  century."  Without  endorsing  the  severity 
of  the  discipline  employed,  much  less  the  aid  ren- 
dered by  the  State  in  enforcing  with  civil  pains  and 
penalties  the  censures  of  the  church,  we  may  assert 
that  Calvin  did  demonstrate  in  the  eyes  of  all  the  world 
the  value  of  a  representative  form  of  church  govern- 
ment as  a  means  for  purifying  public  morals,  and  de- 
veloping the  highest  type  of  Christian  character.  To 
show  how  much  this  was  worth  to  the  Reformation, 
we  should  have  to  write  a  history  of  the  Reformed 
churches,  and  show  that  in  respect  to  the  realization  of 
true  Christian  ideals,  they  shone  with  a  glory  all  their 
own. 

III.  Cak'in's  Educational  Measures  and  Correspond- 
ence. It  was  principally  through  these  means  tha: 
Calvin's  influence  overflowed  the  narrow  bounds  of 
the  little  city  where  he  lived  and  wrought.  It  has  been 
said,  and  I  think  truly  said,  that  with  Calvin,  Geneva 
was  never  an  end,  but  always  a  means.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  his  ministry  Calvin  set  himself  to  make. 
Geneva  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted,  and  a  training 
school  for  the  Reformed  faith.  In  a  large  measure 
his  purpose  and  his  hopes  were  realized.  From  all  the 
countries  of  Europe  the  persecuted  fled  for  safety  to 
this  retreat.  Many  of  these  refugees  were  men  of  great 
learning  and   distinguished   ability,   but   none   were  too 


32  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

eminent  to  learn  from  Calvin ;  and  no  one  returned 
to  his  distant  home  without  carrying  away  knowledge 
that  he  was  eager  to  impart. 

In  1558,  the  famous  Academy  of  Geneva  was  estab- 
lished. This  has  been  called  Calvin's  crowning  work 
in  the  field  which  God  had  given  him  to  subdue  and 
to  cultivate.  In  this  crowning  work  especially  we  can 
sec  that  Calvin's  vision  was  sweeping  a  wider  horizon 
than  that  which  bounded  his  little  city.  No  sooner 
was  the  Academy  opened  than  it  enrolled  900  pupils, 
representing  the  same  wide  range  of  territory  that  was 
represented  by  the  refugees.  In  addition  to  these,  there 
were  sometimes  as  many  as  1,000  sitting  under  Calvin's 
theological  lectures.  Thus  pastors  and  evangelists 
were  trained  to  go  forth  and  spread  the  doctrines  whicn 
they  had  learned,  and  to  establish  churches  after  the 
model  which  they  had  seen  in  Geneva.  It  is  easy  for 
us  to  see  with  what  good  reason  this  city  was  called 
the  Rome  of  Protestantism.  It  was  the  center  from 
which  emanated  the  spiritual  power,  and  the  educa- 
tional forces  that  guided  and  moulded  the  Reformation 
in  the  surrounding  countries.  While  Calvin  soon  came 
to  be  so  bitterly  hated  that  he  was  never  permitted 
to  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  his  native  France,  yet  to  him 
the  eyes  of  the  Huguenots  turned  for  advice  and  coun- 
sel at  every  step  in  their  mighty  struggle,  and  when 
under  cover  of  darkness  they  met  to  organize  their 
2,000  congregations  into  one  united  whole,  his  hand 
drafted  their  Confession  of  Faith,  and  their  form  of 
government.  Through  France  his  doctrines  invaded 
the  Netherlands,  and  coming  into  contact  with  Luther- 
anism,  which  was  first  on  the  ground,  won  the  day. 
John  Knox  added  Scotland  to  the  theological  domain 
of  Calvin.    The  ardent  Reformers  from  England,  who 


Calv'In  Memorial  Addresses  33 

rested  in  Geneva  during  the  reign  of  Bloody  Mary, 
carried  back  to  their  island  home  the  teachings  and  the 
spirit  of  Calvin,  and  gave  to  England  the  Puritanism 
which  proved  such  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  tyranny,  until 
finally  it  brought  down  the  Stuart  dynasty  tumbling  in 
ruins. 

There  was  yet  another  method  by  which  Calvm 
propagated  his  influence.  He  carried  on  a  volumin- 
ous correspondence  with  all  the  conspicuous  leaders 
in  both  church  and  state  throughout  Protestant  Chris- 
tendom. We  have  to-day  from  Calvin's  fertile  brain 
letters  addressed  to  over  300  different  persons  and 
bodies,  some  of  them  to  crowned  heads,  some  to 
princes  and  nobles  and  some  to  high  ecclesiastical  dig- 
nitaries. As  a  rule,  they  are  not  brief  documents  de- 
signed merely  to  pass  the  compliments  of  the  day, 
but  they  are  carefully  prepared  treatises  discussing  m 
masterly  manner  the  profound  and  perplexing  ques- 
tions with  which  statesmen  and  churchmen  had  to  do. 
The  influence  of  these  in  moulding  the  thought,  in 
guiding  the  policy  of  those  who  were  holding  the  reins 
of  power  and  shaping  the  history  of  those  tumultuous 
times  cannot  easily  be  over-stated. 

To  sum  up  the  aggregate  of  Calvin's  influence  out- 
side of  Geneva,  we  may  say  that  all  the  non-Germanic 
countries  that  embraced  the  Protestant  faith,  with  the 
one  exception  of  England,  enthroned  the  doctrines  of 
Calvin  and  set  up  his  church  polity.  Had  not  the  free 
development  of  Protestantism  been  repressed  in  Eng- 
land by  the  iron  hand  of  royal  despotism,  it  is  morally 
certain  that  England  would  have  been  no  exception. 
As  it  was,  Calvinism  found  its  way  into  the  doctrinal 
system  of  the  Established  Church,  and  into  the  hearts 
and  creeds  of  all  dissenting  bodies. 


34  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

What  shall  we  say  more?  Time  would  fail  us  to 
trace  in  detail  the  manifold  currents  of  influence  that 
had  their  source  in  Geneva,  and  that  were  flowing  in 
every  direction  to  carry  and  deposit  the  seeds  of  the 
new  faith.  One  testimony  to  the  predominant  influ- 
ence that  radiated  from  this  center  must  be  mentioned 
— it  is  the  testimony  borne  by  the  great  adversary.  No 
spot  in  Europe  was  so  hated  as  Geneva.  Philip  II, 
than  whom  the  Pope  was  not  more  zealous  for  the  old 
order,  wrote  to  the  King  of  France:  "This  city  is  the 
source  of  all  mischief  for  France,  the  most  formidable 
enemy  of  Rome,  At  any  time,  I  am  ready  to  assist 
with  all  the  power  of  my  realm  in  its  overthrow." 
When  the  Duke  of  Alva  was  to  lead  his  Spanish  army 
near  Geneva,  Pope  Pius  V  asked  him  to  turn  aside  and 
"destroy  that  nest  of  devils  and  apostates."  Do  we 
admire  Calvin  for  the  friends  that  he  made?  Equally 
may  we  admire  him  for  the  enemies  that  he  made. 

I  shall  close  this  discussion  of  John  Calvin's  con- 
tribution to  the  Reformation  of  the  i6th  century  with 
a  statement,  to  which  I  am  sure  friend  and  foe  would 
alike  assent.  John  Calvin  contrilbuted  to  the  Reforma- 
tion all  that  he  could  contribute.  He  put  into  it  all 
that  God  put  into  him ;  all  the  resources  of  his  intellect, 
all  the  devotion  of  his  heart,  all  the  energies  of  his 
will.  For  30  years  he  had  but  this  one  interest,  and 
to  this  be  consecrated  every  moment  of  his  time,  every 
element  of  his  influence,  every  faculty  of  body,  mind 
and  soul.  He  toiled  for  it  to  the  utmost  limit  of  his 
strength,  fought  for  it  with  a  courage  that  'never 
quailed,  suffered  for  it  with  a  fortitude  that  never 
wavered,  and  was  ready  at  any  moment  to  die  for  it. 
He  literally  poured  every  drop  of  his  life  into  it,  un- 
hesitatingly,  unsparingly.     History   will   be   searched 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  35 

in  vain  to  find  a  man  who  gave  himself  to  one  definite 
purpose  with  more  unalterable  persistence,  and  with 
more  lavish  self-abandon  than  Calvin  gave  himself  to 
the  Reformation  of  the  i6th  Century.  There  was 
a  pathos  in  his  position  which  almost  moves  to  tears. 
During  many  weary  years  when  the  burden  was  the 
heaviest,  when  the  conflict  was  the  fiercest,  and  when 
the  issue  still  was  doubtful,  he  stood  to  his  post,  an 
alien  in  a  strange  city,  without  citizenship,  without 
a  family,  broken  in  health,  and  living  in  the  shadow 
of  a  desolate  home  from  which  he  had  buried  his  wife 
and  only  child.  He  toiled  on  with  an  utter  self-immo- 
lation, giving  to  his  personal  sorrows  no  voice,  and 
refusing  his  physical  infirmities  the  solace  of  rest  and 
care.  He  burned  the  candle  to  the  socket,  and  at  the 
age  of  55  "went  to  God."  They  buried  him  without 
pomp  in  an  unmarked  grave.  Buried  John  Calvin ! 
No,  no,  they  put  the  frail,  wasted  body  under  the 
ground,  but  John  Calvin  has  never  been  buried,  nor  will 
be,  till  all  the  Reformed  churches  of  two  hemispheres 
have  apostatized  from  the  faith  once  delivered  to  them 
by  this  saint.  May  God  postpone  this  evil  day  forever 
and  forever. 


XK-.rr 


Rev.  Henry  Coli.in  Minton,  D.  D. 
Trenton,  N.  J. 


CALVIN,  THE  THEOLOGIAN. 


Rev.  Henry  Collin  Minton^  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Trenton,  N.  J. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  more  significant,  I  believe, 
than  appears  on  the  face  of  it,  that  the  four  hundredth 
anniversary  of  John  Calvin's  birth  is  being  so  widely 
and  so  signally  celebrated  throughout  the  Christian 
world  in  this  year  of  grace  nineteen  hundred  and  nine. 
Most  nauics,  even  of  those  whom  their  own  age  calls 
great,  fade  out  into  oblivion  within  the  limits  of  a 
single  century.  It  is  allowed  to  but  few  to  outlive  a 
dozen  generations  of  mankind.  The  secret  of  such  en- 
during fame  must  be  looked  for  elsewhere  than  in  the 
merely  personal  qualities  or  in  the  contemporary  ap- 
preciation of  its  possessor.  The  great  name  of  John 
Calvin  is  embalmed  in  the  immortal  doctrines  of  Cal- 
vinism. It  is  not  linked,  like  that  of  Luther,  with  any 
great  branch  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  it  is  more  ap- 
propriately associated  with  a  great  system  of  thought, 
and  that  system  is  so  comprehensive,  so  pervasive,  and 
so  polygonal  that,  from  one  point  of  view,  it  is  a  solid 
body  of  doctrine  embracing  all  the  great  truths  of 
religion  and  of  life,  while  from  another  point  of  view 
it  is  scarcely  more  than  a  frame  of  mind,  an  attitude 
of  the  intellect,  affecting  every  possible  condition  and 
relation  of  man. 

Psychologically,  Calvinism  is  Calvin  writ  large. 
There  is  an  element  of  truth,  however  exaggerated,  in 
the  remark  once  made  to  me  in  San  Francisco  by  a 


38  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

scholarly  Jewish  Rabbi,  to  the  effect  that  theology  is 
nine-tenths  temperament.  It  has  been  said  that  John 
Calvin's  God  was  John  Wesley's  devil ;  this,  too,  of 
course,  is  over-stated;  but  whatever  difference  there 
was  in  their  conceptions  was  not  owing  to  the  differ- 
ence between  God  and  the  devil  but  to  the  difference 
between  the  two  sainted  Johns.  Both  accepted  the  same 
Scripture  as  true,  both  prayed  to  be  guided  by  the 
same  Spirit  of  Truth ;  both  devoutly  subordinated  their 
own  reason  to  the  supreme  voice  of  Revelation — and 
yet  how  great  the  difference !  John  Calvin  and  Igna- 
tius Loyola  were  schoolmates  at  the  same  college,  De 
Montague,  in  Paris ;  what  was  it  that  developed  the 
one  into  the  great  intellectual  organizer  of  the  Reform- 
ation and  the  other  into  the  indefatigable  founder  of 
the  Order  of  Jesus? 

No  man  can  understand  Calvinism  who  is  not  in 
some  measure  acquainted  with  the  life  of  John  Calvin. 
The  same  conditions  that  developed  the  one  produced 
the  other,  and  although  it  is  true  that  he  was  in  a 
remarkable  degree  unresponsive  to  the  external  condi- 
tions of  his  life,  yet  when  we  say  that  he  was,  under 
God,  a  creature  of  the  historical  conditions  of  his  age, 
Ave  are  only  saying  that  John  Calvin  was  human,  not 
more  and  not  less. 

Any  man's  theology  is  his  thought  concerning  God 
and  the  world ;  and  that  thought  must  depend  of  course 
in  large  measure  upon  his  ability  to  think  and  the  con- 
ditions of  his  thinking.  Calvin,  as  theologian,  was 
Calvin  looking  Godward  and  turning  to  tell  the  world 
what  he  saw.  His  eyes  were  keener  than  most  men's. 
His  vision  was  more  telescopic  in  its  range  and  more 
microscopic  in  its  accuracy ;  but  his  eyes  were  still 
his  own.    We  must  remember  the  mists  that  hung  low 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  39 

and  heavy  in  his  time,  as  well  as  the  clouds  of  ignor- 
ance that  ever  darken  man's  upward  look.     We  must 
not  forget  Calvin's  inherited  gifts  of  head  and  heart, 
the  circumstances  of  his  home  and  school  and  early 
life,  the  strange  and  fitful  career  that  finally  landed 
him   most  unexpectedly  in   Geneva;  the   innumerable 
cares,  the  exacting  tasks,  the  irritating  antagonisms, 
the   ever  enlarging  responsibilities   of  his  public  life 
and   the   generally   belligerent   conditions   existing  in 
Europe  at  the  age  in  which  he  lived;  we  must  bear 
in  mind  the  intellectual  awakening  and  consequent  un- 
rest which  characterized  the  era  of  the  Renaissance, 
and  the  loud  call  in  all  this  for  a  master  spirit  to  or- 
ganize the  social  forces  and  to  co-ordinate  the  intel- 
lectual elements  which  were  in  utter  confusion  after 
the   frontier   skirmishes   of   the   Reformation.     These 
were  among  the  thousand  and  one  things  which,  under 
God,  entered  into  that  mighty  and  majestic  composite 
which  all  the  world  acknowledges  to  have  been  not 
only  historic,  but  also  history  making,  in  John  Calvin, 
the  great  thinker  and  theologian  of  the  i6th  century. 
All  theology  should  relate  itself  in  some  way  to 
human    experience.      Every    truth    in    the    confession 
should  have  its  place  in  the  life  of  the  confessor.     It 
may  not  be  explicit  in  his  consciousness  but  it  should 
be  implicit  in  his  life.     Few  can  fully  state  their  faith 
in  the  Trinity  or  the  Atonement  or  the  gracious  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  but,  if  their  faith  is  deep  and  their 
life  sincere,  a  full  analysis  of  that  faith  and  a  thor- 
ough explication  of  that  life  will  bring  out  into  the 
open  the  elements  that  lie  dormant  and  hidden  in  their 
breasts. 

The  story  of  Calvin's  life  is  too  familiar  to  need 
repeating.    His  birth,  unlike  Luther's,  was  into  a  home 


40  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

of  gentle  life  and  easy  comfort.  He  enjoyed  the  best 
educational  advantages  which  the  universities  of  his 
time  afforded.  Both  in  taste  and  in  attainments,  he 
was  an  accomplished  humanist.  His  first  literary  pro- 
duction was  a  commentary  upon  Seneca's  De  de- 
mentia, and  this  purely  classical  essay  has  almost  no 
reference  to  scripture  teaching  or  religious  interest. 
In  the  preface  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Psalms,  he 
tells  us  of  his  sudden  conversion,  and  his  biographers 
have  discussed,  with  differing  conclusions,  what  Cal- 
vin's conversion  at  this  time  was.  Less  spectacular 
than  that  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  less  protracted  than  that 
of  Augustine  of  Hippo,  less  violent  than  that  of  Luther, 
we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  it  was  a  sudden  re- 
versal of  intellectual  attitude  toward  the  momentous 
issues,  so  profoundly  spiritual  in  their  essence  and 
ethical  in  their  import,  which  were  at  that  moment  at 
stake  between  the  people  and  the  Pope.  This  is  not 
to  disparage  the  genuineness  of  his  personal  spiritual 
experience,  or  to  slur  over  the  importance  of  regenera- 
tion ;  but  Calvin  was  nothing  if  not  intellectual,  and 
such  a  change  of  allegiance  involved  both  convictions 
and  courage,  which  gave  splendid  play  to  all  the  spir- 
itual graces  and  heroic  virtues  of  the  true  man  of  God. 
His  Institutes,  appearing  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
six,  were  at  once  accepted  as  the  product  of  a  master 
spirit.  In  its  immediate  intention  it  was  an  appeal,  a 
defense  and  a  challenge ;  while  in  its  larger  references 
it  was  at  the  same  time  an  Evangel,  a  Dogmatic,  an 
Apologetic,  and  a  Polemic.  The  historic  dedication  to 
Francis  the  First,  is  one  of  the  immortal  bits  of  the 
world's  literature.  Calvin  wrote  the  Institutes,  he  some- 
where tells  us,  with  an  evangelistic  purpose  first  of  all, 
but  we  may  sum  up  its  object  as  three-fold:  first,  to 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  41 

state  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation ;  second,  to  dis- 
abuse the  mind  of  Francis  of  certain  misconceptions ; 
and,  third,  to  disclaim  and  refute  the  wild  vagaries  of 
the  Anabaptists.  When  we  remember  that  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor  were  in  front  of  him,  and  the  pesti- 
ferous Anabaptists  and  Libertines  in  his  rear,  it  is 
remarkable  that  Calvin  was  able  to  develop  the  pro- 
found theology  of  the  Institutes  with  such  calm  spirit 
and  such  complete  mental  poise  and,  if  at  times  an  un- 
seemly harshness  smites  upon  our  ears,  we  have  no 
need  to  forget  that  this  was  but  the  mark  of  a  uni- 
versal weakness  in  theological  controversy  at  that 
time,  and  that  the  provocations  to  impatience  were 
very  numerous  and  grievous  to  be  borne. 

Calvin's  literary  labors  were  wonderfully  prolific. 
If  Luther  was  the  great  Bible  translator  of  the  Reform- 
ation, Calvin  was  its  great  Bible  commentator.  His 
tasks  of  administration  were  very  heavy  and  never  to 
his  liking.  He  was  a  preacher  of  singular  clearness 
and  power,  and  yet  he  longed  for  the  quiet  life  of  the 
student.  Driven  from  place  to  place  in  his  native 
France,  sojourning  for  a  time  in  the  south  country  of 
Italy,  he  finally  made  his  way  back  to  the  north,  tarry- 
ing in  Geneva  but  for  a  single  night.  William  Farel 
laid  almost  violent  hands  upon  him  and,  under  the  spell 
of  this  fiery  Frenchman's  anathema  if  he  should  not 
heed  his  call  to  remain,  Calvin  found  in  Geneva  not 
a  night's  lodging  only  but  the  scene  of  his  great  life 
work.  He  was  seeking  Strasburg  for  quiet  study ;  he 
finds  the  seething  caldron  of  Geneva.  He  fain  would 
shun  all  noisy  conflicts  and  bitter  controversy ;  he 
finds  the  great  battle-ground  of  the  Reformation.  No 
man  was  ever  thrust  into  an  unsought  place  of  promi- 
nence more  suddenly  and  more  reluctantly  than  was 


42  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Calvin  thrust  into  the  midst  of  the  ferments  of  Geneva. 
This  is  but  one  of  a  most  remarkable  series  of  such 
personal  experiences  in  the  life  of  the  great  reformer. 
"Man  proposes,  God  disposes."  This  means  Divine 
Providence  in  human  affairs ;  it  means  a  "Divinity 
shaping  man's  end" ;  it  means  an  over-ruling,  ever- 
living,  sovereign  God. 

If  w^e  are  to  succeed  in  our  search  for  the  funda- 
mental and  formative  principle  of  Calvin's  teaching, 
we  must  remember  that  his  mental  make-up  was  such 
as  required  that  all  his  thinking  should  group  itself 
into  a  complete  and  systematic  unit.  His  mind  de- 
manded some  truth  large  enough  for  all  other  truths 
to  stand  on.  His  logic  was  sharp  and  severe,  but  his 
logic  was  only  formal ;  the  material  for  his  thinking 
he  found  in  the  Word  of  God.  His  dialectic  was  as 
keen  as  that  of  a  Plato,  but  we  see  its  magnificent  dis- 
play only  as  it  is  at  work  on  the  rich  treasures  of 
Divine  Revelation.  To  him  any  truth  that  was  not 
related  or  relatable  to  every  other  truth  in  the  field  of 
vision  would  have  been  fatal.  We  sweetly  sing  with 
Tennyson : 

"Our  little  systems  have  their  day, 
They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be; 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  Thee, 
And  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 

Yes,  "our  little  systems" — if  they  are  only  ours, 
conceived  by  us,  created  by  us !  But  if  the  system  be 
either  found  in  or  founded  upon  eternal  truth,  then 
why  is  that  system  not  as  eternal  as  the  truth  itself? 
"God's  thoughts  are  not  as  our  thoughts" — not  because 
Plis  thoughts  are  essentially  different  from  ours,  but 
because  they  are  "higher"  than  ours.     To  think  at  all 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  43 

is  to  think  systematically,  and  if  there  be  no  system, 
no  order,  no  self-consistent  harmony  in  God's  think- 
ing", then  there  can  be  no  such  thing-  as  thinking  God's 
thoughts  over  again  after  Him,  and  Agnosticism,  with 
its  cruel  hand,  has  forever  closed  the  door  against  all 
human  knowledge  of  things  Divine. 

The  sweep  of  Calvin's  mind  found  only  one  basal 
truth  broad  enough  on  which  to  build  his  theology 
and  his  theodicy.  "In  the  beginning,  God."  Calvin 
took  the  scripture  at  its  word.  The  Divine  must  under- 
lie the  human ;  the  eternal  is  presupposed  in  the  tem- 
poral ;  the  Creator  is,  both  in  the  order  of  thought  and 
of  time,  antecedent  to  the  creation. 

Here  we  find  the  principium,  the  organizing  prin- 
ciple of  Calvin's  system.  His  theology  is  fundamen- 
tally theistic.  "He  has  God  in  all  his  thoughts."  Not 
the  sovereignty  of  God,  as  is  so  often  af^rmed,  not  His 
justice  or  His  power,  or  His  governmental  authority — 
"In  the  beginning-,  God."  Let  the  scripture  develop 
its  own  conception  of  what  God  is.  Let  reason  judge 
and  experience  interpret ;  only  let  him  be  God.  Every 
theology  waits  upon  its  definition  of  God.  Many 
people,  in  explicitly  defining  God,  implicitly  deny  Him. 
They  reverently  repeat  the  words  of  the  Creed,  "I  be- 
lieve in  God,  the  Father  Almighty,"  and  then  proceed 
to  strip  Him  of  the  very  attributes  in  the  possession 
of  which  alone  He  can  be  either  God  or  Father  or 
Almighty. 

A  God  who  is  not  holy  is  no  God.  A  God  who  is 
not  just  or  good  or  true  is  no  God.  A  God  who  does 
not  satisfy  and  surpass  our  highest  conception  of  ethi- 
cal ideal  is  no  God.  A  God  who  is  not  supreme  over 
all,  who  shares  the  throne  of  His  rule  and  glory  with 
angel  or  man  or  devil,  who  does  not  know  all  things,  who 


44  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

does  not  control  all  things,  whose  eyes  are  closed  to  any 
scene  of  tragedy  or  distress,  whose  ears  are  stopped 
to  any  cry  of  suffering  or  of  need,  whose  love  is 
quenched  by  any  offense  against  His  holy  will,  whose 
arm  is  bound  by  any  force  or  fate  or  law — this  is  no 
God.  When  we  hear  any  one  declare  that  he  believes 
in  God,  it  is  necessary  to  wait  until  he  tells  us  what 
kind  of  a  God  he  believes  in  that  we  may  be  sure 
that  he  believes  in  God  at  all.  Many  a  qualified  theism 
is,  at  bottom,  an  unqualified  atheism. 

Here  is  the  seed  thought  of  Calvinism.  Once  grasp 
and  grant  its  conception  of  God  and  many  of  its  far- 
reaching  and  battle-scared  doctrines  stand  forth  as 
inevitable  and  indisputable  corollaries.  Not  less  than 
Spinoza  of  Amsterdam,  only  profoundly  more  sane 
and  ever  loyal  to  Holy  Scripture,  was  Calvin  of  Gen- 
eva "the  God-intoxicated  man."  He  had  not  touched 
the  meaning  of  a  single  fact  in  time,  he  had  not  reached 
to  the  hem  of  the  garment  of  any  great  principle  in 
philosophy,  until  he  had  related  it  to  God.  No  plan 
back  in  the  eternity  that  was,  no  end  in  the  eternity 
that  is  to  be,  is  beyond  the  purview  and  control  of  the 
eternal  God.  Man's  place  and  part  in  time,  his  portion 
and  destiny  in  eternity  are  ordained  in  the  vast  pano- 
ramic program  of  his  Creator.  Calvin  hesitated  at 
no  barrier  or  challenge.  If  the  thought  of  Calvin  the 
dogmatician  seems  harsh  and  a' priori,  let  us  not  forget 
that  it  was  at  the  same  time  Calvin,  the  greatest  in- 
ductive Scripture  commentator  of  his  age,  and  one  of 
the  greatest  of  any  age,  that  propounded  that  thought. 
Grant  Calvin's  theism  and  only  the  adroitness  of  the 
sophist  or  the  inconsistency  of  the  weakling  will  balk 
at  his  theology. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  45 

But  if  we  find  the  seed  of  Calvin's  system  here  it 
is  here  also  that  we  find  its  very  crux.  It  is  not  the 
question  whether  the  celebrated  five  points  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  star  shall  fade  out  or  endure  ;  their  brilliancy 
or  their  extinction  will  depend  upon  the  constancy  of 
the  mother  light  at  the  centre.  The  only  way  to  ex- 
tinguish the  sunlight  from  the  world  is  to  blot  out  the 
disc  of  the  sun  itself  from  the  sky.  The  only  way  to 
stop  the  scintillations  of  the  star  is  to  drown  out  the 
star  itself  in  the  blackness  of  the  surrounding  night. 
It  is  child's  play  to  talk  of  surrendering  certain  prin- 
ciples of  essential  Calvinism  and  holding  on  to  others. 
Whatever  we  may  think  of  Calvinism,  it  has  this 
merit,  that  it  is  a  unit  and  that  unit  is  a  vital  organism, 
not  a  dead  mechanism.  There  are  Calvinists  and  Cai- 
vinists,  to  be  sure.  Some  one  has  pointed  out  for  us 
the  varying  grades  of  Calvinistic  loyalty.  There  is 
John  Calvin  himself  and  there  are  those  to-day  who 
doubtless  are  worthy  to  bear  the  name  of  their  theo- 
logical patronymic ;  there  are  Calvinists,  loyal  dis- 
ciples of  the  great  teacher  of  Geneva ;  then  there  are 
those  who  are  honestly  and  in  a  healthy  sense  Calvin- 
istic, then  there  are  those  who  are  Calvinistical ;  next, 
there  are  those  whose  homeopathic  adherence  to  the 
faith  may  be  characterized  as  Calvinisticalish ;  and 
last  of  all,  there  are  those,  standing  far  out  on  the  cir- 
cumference, who  are  slightly  tinged  with  Cahdnistical- 
ishness.  But,  whether  the  dye  be  deep  or  dim,  the 
great  fundamental  truth  of  God  at  the  centre  and  God 
at  the  circumference,  and  God  everywhere  between, 
can  never  be  abandoned. 

You  have  all,  of  course,  heard  of  the  memorable 
and  classical  definition  of  a  crab  in  which  the  crab  is 
defuied  as  *'A  red  fish  which  crawls  backward."    This 


46  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

has,  upon  very  good  authority,  been  pronounced  to  be 
a  highly  scientific  and  essentially  correct  definition, 
with  three  incidental  corrections,  however,  which  are 
deemed  worthy  to  be  noted.  These  are,  first,  a  crab  is 
not  a  fish ;  second,  it  is  not  red ;  and,  third,  it  does  not 
crawl  backward.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  there  is  not  a 
little  which  passes  for  Calvinism  in  the  world  to-day 
which  calls  for  just  such  incidental  criticisms  as  this 
learned  and  scientific  definition  of  the  crab. 

Of  course  the  test  of  Calvin's  theology  must  always 
be  upon  the  absolute  universality  of  this  first  postulate. 
He  placed  at  the  foundation  of  his  thought  not  tht- 
sovereignty  of  God  but  a  God  who  is  sovereign.  He 
never  stood  exclusively  for  the  transcendence  of  God 
any  more  than  did  his  great  teacher,  St.  Augustine, 
before  him.  He  sets  forth  the  Immanence  of  God  as 
clearly,  far  more  clearly,  than  do  the  writers  of  our 
own  day  who  fain  would  have  us  believe  that  this  is 
J   one  of  the  great  finds  of  modern  philosophy. 

But  can  the  teachings  of  Scripture,  can  the  facts  of 
experience,  can  the  common  consciousness  of  men,  be 
fairly  construed  so  as  to  support  Calvin's  views?  I  am 
not  here  to  defend  Calvinism  or  to  refute  its  critics. 
We  are  only  striving  to  find  the  characteristic  intellec- 
tual animus,  the  bed-rock  truth  of  his  teaching. 

That  objections  were  forthcoming,  that  marvelously 
acute  and  comprehensive  intellect  knew  very  well.  It 
is  safe  to  say  that  no  argument  has  been  hurled  at 
Geneva  which  Calvin  himself  did  not  carefully  con- 
sider and  discuss  with  more  or  less  fullness  in  his 
writings.  He  knew  that  men  said  that  he  made  God 
the  author  of  sin ;  he  knew  that  men  said  that  he  left 
no  place  for  the  actual  freedom  of  man ;  he  knew  that 
men  shrank  back  from  believing  that  God's  predestina- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  47 

tion  positively  contemplated  the  eschatological  penal- 
ties and  endless  miseries  of  the  finally  impenitent — a 
thing  which  he  himself,  with  humble  awe,  called  the 
"Decretum  horrihilc." 

Nevertheless,  based  on  Scripture,  he  could  find  no 
other  rationale  that  met  the  demands  of  his  all-compre- 
hending thought.  These  objections  all  melted  down, 
in  the  mighty  alembic  of  his  master  mind,  into  one, 
and  that  one  had  for  its  fatal  weakness  that  it  contra- 
dicted his  first  fundamental  Bible-buttressed  concep- 
tion of  God. 

His  notions  of  freedom  were  fearless  and  frankly 
stated.  He  did  not  scruple  to  affirm  that,  although  he 
was  created  free,  yet  man  in  a  state  of  sin  is  not  free, 
and  that  he  and  he  himself  alone  is  responsible  for 
his  lack  of  freedom.  He  regarded  sin  as  a  self-imposed 
handicap  upon  man's  spiritual  freedom  and  life,  which 
is  adequately  characterized  only  in  the  Scripture  term 
which  calls  it  spiritual  death.  That  sin  means  death, 
that  death  means  alienation  from  God  and  forfeiture 
of  His  favor,  this  he  found  in  Holy  Scripture ;  that 
sin  introduced  a  wholly  abnormal  order — a  disastrous 
disorder — into  the  natural  and  moral  world,  and  that 
this  abnormality  entailed  a  curse  not  only  on  man 
but  also  on  the  cosmos  of  which  man  is  the  crowning 
part, — this  he  found  in  Holy  Scripture ;  that  the  grace 
of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  was  manifested  in  the  incarna- 
tion of  His  only  begotten  Son  and  was  consummated  in 
the  historical  Atonement  which  was  accomplished  on 
the  heights  of  Calvary,  sufficient  for  all  mankind  and 
certainly  efficient  for  all  those  who  will  believe  upon 
him, — this  also  he  found  in  Holy  Scripture ;  that  the 
number  of  those  who  will  thus  believe  and  be  redeemed 
unto  holiness  and  eternal  life  was  ordered  and  known 


48  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

in  the  mind  of  the  Eternal  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world, — this,  too,  he  found  in  Holy  Scripture ;  and  that 
in  the  progress  of  His  kingdom,  in  the  development  of 
His  redemptive  purpose,  God  sent  forth  His  Holy 
Spirit  into  the  world  who,  with  or  without  Papal  pre- 
rogatives and  Sacerdotal  or  sacramental  functions,  can 
and  does  work  when  and  where  and  how  He  pleases  in 
gathering  the  innumerable  body  of  the  elect  of  God  out 
of  every  land  and  age  and  nation  into  the  comprehen- 
sive fold, — this  also  he  found  in  Holy  Scripture.  On 
this  broad  ground  Calvin  took  his  unalterable  position. 
That  God  had  foreordained  man's  course  in  time  and 
goal  in  eternity  was  not  to  be  denied  because  man's 
consciousness  tells  him  that  he  is  free.  However  this 
may  be,  refusing  to  cast  a  shadow  upon  the  veracity 
of  its  testimony,  yet  even  granting  that  consciousness 
is  a  trustworthy  witness  to  a  man  that  the  man  him- 
self is  free,  even  so,  it  does  not  follow  that  that  inner 
witness  has  a  single  word  of  competent  or  relevant 
testimony  either  for  or  against  the  inscrutable  purposes 
of  the  Divine,  or  the  unchangeable  decrees  of  the 
Eternal. 

Calvin's  defense  was  based  in  part  upon  the  inevi- 
table limitations  of  human  knowledge.  That  he  was 
in  any  fair  sense  an  Agnostic  is  a  base  libel  upon  his 
fame.  Agnosticism  is  essentially  the  dogmatic  affirma- 
tion of  man's  constitutional  inability  to  know.  The 
verb  "to  know"  is  a  transitive  verb,  but  agnosticism 
persists  in  denying  it  any  object,  from  things  celestial 
or  things  terrestrial,  from  things  infinite  or  things 
finite;  and  when  a  transitive  verb  is  defrauded  of  the 
object  of  its  action,  the  verb  itself  lapses  and  shrinks 
into  a  nonentity ;  accordingly,  agnosticism  would  fain 
wipe  the  words  "knowledge"  and  "to  know"  from  the 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  49 

dictionaries  of  human  speech.  Hume,  and  Hamilton, 
and  Mansell,  and  Spencer,  and  Huxley  base  their  doc- 
trine of  nescience  upon  man's  integral  and  inherent 
incapacity  to  know  anything.  That  tree  or  this  book 
is  as  inscrutable  as  the  infinite  God  and  his  eternal 
purposes.  Calvin  w^as  no  agnostic.  He  did  hold  that 
there  are  truths  that  reach  beyond  our  finite  faculties. 
He  stood  in  awe  in  the  presence  of  the  solemn  and  un- 
yielding mysteries  of  God.  God's  control  and  man's 
freedom  are  the  opposite  poles  of  a  mystery,  and  we 
call  it  mystery  because  we  are  not  able  to  trace  the 
invisible  line  which  connects  the  obvious  truths  which 
stand  at  each  emerging  end.  Mystery  is  not  contra- 
diction, for,  as  Jonathan  Edwards  said  long  ago,  "A 
contradiction  is  not  a  thing,"  whereas  the  very  cruss. 
of  a  mystery  is  in  the  fact  that  though  we  cannot  com- 
prehend it  fully  it  is  nevertheless  an  existing  truth. 
Homo  mensura  rerum  is  the  discredited  dictum  of  a 
rationalizing  agnosticism.  We  are  always  afraid  of  a 
philosophy  which  leaves  nothing  to  be  explained. 
Calvin  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  what  seemed  to  him 
to  be  true,  and  bafiling  difficulties,  stubborn  antino- 
mies, though  they  might  embarrass  him,  did  not  cause 
him  to  waver  in  his  allegiance  to  his  underlying  theistic 
postulate. 

Whatever  may  be  men's  verdict  upon  the  rational 
integrity  or  the  moral  merits  of  Calvin,  we  have  here 
its  essential  strength  and  its  reputed  or  its  imputed 
weakness.  His  notion  of  God  is  large  enough  to  em- 
brace all  things  that  are.  Ascribing  only  infinite  per- 
fection to  Him,  he  nevertheless  maintained  that  in  His 
all-sweeping  purpose  He  contemplated  the  evil  as  well 
as  the  good,  the  bitter  as  well  as  the  sweet,  the  sinner 
as  well  as  the  saint,  the  deepest  depths  of  hell  as  well 


50  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

as  the  highest  heights  of  heaven.  If  men  said  that  in 
this  he  was  bringing  an  indictment  against  the  Divine 
hohness  and  the  Divine  love,  he  replied  that  the  mystery 
is  there ;  but  it  is  a  mystery  less  abhorrent,  both  to 
Scripture  and  to  reason,  than  the  mystery  which  we 
are  bound  to  face  if  we  dethrone  God  or  limit  the 
scope  of  His  rule.  A  broken  scepter,  a  mutilated 
crown,  a  restricted  rule,  undeifies  God.  Only  God 
rules.  No  force  or  fate  or  fact  disproves  that  bottom 
truth.  If  there  be  unsolved  problems,  locate  them 
elsewhere,  let  God  be  God  and  the  developments  of 
history  the  bodying  forth  in  time  of  His  eternal 
purposes. 

The  magnificence,  the  audacity,  the  reverential  awe 
of  this  conception,  who  can  gainsay?  John  Calvin's 
system  was,  in  a  sense  that  is  true  to  the  etymology  of 
t^_the  word,  a  genuine  theology.  Not  yet  had  the  de- 
generate days  arrived  when  men  study  the  objective 
facts  of  men's  life  and  history  and  gravely  christen  the 
result  "theology."  He  made  theology  inductive,  but 
the  sources  whence  he  drew  his  inductions  were  not 
the  fitful  and  fleeting  scenes  of  human  history  but,  first 
of  all,  the  Divinely  given  and  devoutly  accepted  teach- 
ings of  the  inspired  Word  of  God.  He  would  have  re- 
pudiated with  abhorrence  the  crude  modern  notion  that 
theology  is  only  the  science  of  religion.  Like  the  be- 
loved disciple,  the  Theologos  of  the  New  Testament, 
he  studied  history  in  the  light  of  God  and  afterward 
God  in  the  light  of  history.  He  first  drew  his  light 
from  higher  sources  and  then  made  that  light  inter- 
pretative of  scientific  and  historical  truth ;  and  while,  of 
course,  the  sunburst  of  modern  scientific  discovery  had 
not  yet  broken  upon  the  world,  yet  his  attitude  toward  the 
whole  field   of   empirical   truth   was   typical   and   un- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  51 

affected,  in  principle,  by  the  multitude  or  the  magni- 
tude of  the  conquests  of  recent  scientific  research. 

That  essential  Calvinism  is  out  of  date  to-day,  who 
that  keeps  an  eye  upon  the  drift  of  twentieth  century 
thought  will  presume  to  affirm?  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
if  he  were  with  us  to-day  John  Calvin  would  be  a 
vigorous  reactionary  against  the  extreme  Determinism 
of  many  of  our  scientific  and  philosophical  thinkers, 
Calvin  never  reduced  man's  freedom  to  a  farce.  There 
is  a  scientific  fatalism  in  vogue  to-day  that  out- 
Mohammets  Mohammet,  and  while  singing  to  men  the 
sweet  songs  of  freedom  it  would  rob  them  of  the  last 
shreds  of  the  real  thing.  The  apostle  of  selection  has 
usurped  the  place  of  the  apostle  of  election,  and  many 
are  eager  to  accept  Darwin's  natural  selection  who 
hold  up  their  hands  in  horror  at  Calvin's  divine  elec- 
tion. The  one  does  not  know  or  care  whether  there  is 
intelligence  and  will  back  the  selecting  process;  while 
the  other  insists  that  behind  the  electing  act  is 
the  true  and  living  God  "Whose  judgments  are  un- 
searchable, and  whose  ways  are  past  finding  out." 

Neither  can  the  spirit  of  modern  metaphysics  wage 
war  upon  the  theological  citadels  of  Geneva.  The  last 
word  of  the  best  philosophy  of  to-day,  the  ultimate 
category  of  a  sane  metaphysics,  is  Personality.  All 
knowable  truth  is  knowable  because  a  knowing  mind 
has  foreknown  it.  History  can  be  scientifically  studied 
and  rationally  stated  because  it  embodies  a  rational 
plan.  Geology  is  a  science  because  it  finds,  first  con- 
cealed and  then  revealed  in  its  rocks  and  hills,  the 
records  of  a  science-like  order.  Keplar  traced  the  stars 
and  thought  God's  thoughts  over  again  after  Him ; 
not  more  did  Keplar,  than  does  every  other  man  who 
f.nds  truth  knowable  because  it  bears  upon  its  face  or 


52  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

hides  within  its  folds  the  ordering  purpose  of  Another. 
Plato's  "Eternal  Geometer  of  the  Universe"  is  none 
other  than  Calvin's  Eternal  Fbreordainer  "of  whatso- 
ever comes  to  pass." 

That  the  course  of  Calvinism,  like  that  of  true  love, 
"has  not  run  smooth"  all  the  world  knows  right  well. 
That  it  is  a  bankrupt  system  of  thought  to-day,  that 
it  was  at  best  only  a  crude  seventeenth  century  report 
of  theological  progress,  that  the  succeeding  ages  have 
been  sifting  out  its  modicum  of  truth  and  have  thrown 
forever  into  the  scrap-heap  the  great  bulk  of  its  offen- 
sive dogmatisms,  this  is  affirmed  by  the  few  and 
echoed  by  the  many  until  legion  is  the  name  of  those 
who,  innocent  if  not  incapable  of  a  single  independent 
conception  in  their  own  right  of  what  John  Calvin 
really  did  think  or  teach,  are  ready  to  accept  the  howl- 
ing chorus  of  condemnation  as  unchallenged  and  con- 
clusive. Let  us  not  forget  that  whoever  calls  Calvin 
infallible  is  as  false  to  Protestantism  and  to  the  great 
Protestant  of  Geneva  as  he  who  locates  infallibility  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber ;  let  us  remember  that  it  has 
been  given  to  no  saint  or  sage  in  all  the  course  of  time 
to  formulate  into  a  finality  the  great  truths  of  Divine 
revelation ;  let  us  not  forget  that  with  the  developments 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  world,  under  the  gra- 
cious tuition  of  the  Spirit  of  all  Turth,  new  light  may 
from  time  to  time  be  expected  to  break  forth  from  the 
treasures  of  Divine  truth ;  let  us  remember,  too,  that 
every  age  has  its  peculiar  difficulties  for  him  who 
would  perform  the  colossal  task  of  constructive  creed 
building,  and  that  the  war-like  tactics  of  self-defense 
which  were  forced  upon  the  reformer  by  the  tyrannies 
of  King  and  Pope  on  the  one  side  and  by  the  vagaries 
of  Anabaptist  and  Libertine  on  the  other,  caused  their 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  53 

utterances  to  bristle  with  antagonisms,  and  sometimes 
to  exhibit  the  unhappy  blemishes  of  unwarranted  exag- 
geration. Calvinism  was  Calvin's  view  of  God  and 
the  world.  The  sources  of  his  thinking  were  higher 
than  the  tops  of  his  unstained  Alps;  his  guidance  was 
surer  than  his  own  frail  thought ;  his  vision  was  far 
out  toward  the  fugitive  horizons  of  the  infinite.  The 
fields  of  time  were  to  his  gaze  outlined  and  bounded 
only  by  the  purpose  of  eternity.  Men  think  and  choose 
and  act ;  they  ponder  and  decide  and  go  forth  to  the 
doing  of  the  deed ;  they  rise  up  in  the  morning  and 
after  their  little  day's  work  is  done  they  lie  down  tc 
sleep  through  the  long  hours  of  the  approaching  night. 
They  are  unconscious  of  millions  of  their  fellows  who 
are  living  the  same  life,  doing  the  same  tasks,  and 
walking  the  same  way;  with  mistaken  and  egoistic 
pride  they  imagine  that  they  are  all  alone  in  choosing 
their  own  ways  and  ordering  their  own  steps.  But 
the  vision  is  as  yet  partial  and  incomplete.  This  is 
chaos,  not  cosmos;  this  is  confusion,  not  order.  Every 
toiler  has  his  task  assigned  him,  though  he  know  it 
not.  Every  traveler  finds  his  path  opening  out  before 
him,  and  a  voice,  not  his  own,  though  he  recognize 
it  not,  calling  him  down  along  that  way.  His  lot  is 
measured  out;  his  days  are  numbered  out  before  him. 
The  sphere  within  which  he  moves  is  large  enough  for 
the  widest,  wildest  wanderings  of  his  weary  feet,  and 
that  sphere  is  of  another's  ordering.  His  choices  are 
to  himself  entirely  free,  for  they  are  his  very  own ;  his 
determinations  are  spontaneous,  for  they  are  unforced, 
and  yet,  far  down  in  the  subsoil  of  his  subliminal  self, 
beneath  the  surface  gaze  of  his  superficial  conscious- 
ness, forces  are  at  work,  forces  sent  forth  and  con- 
trolled by  the  hand  of  the  Eternal,  forces  which  men 


54  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

call  heredity  and  environment  and  nature  and  Provi- 
dence and  the  mysteries  of  Divine  grace,  forces  which 
in  their  own  time,  in  their  own  silent  and  subtle  but 
ever  effective  way,  quietly  swing  those  free  choiccis 
and  effectually  bring  those  free  actions  around  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  end  eternally  in  view.  And 
each  end  in  turn  becomes  a  means  to  a  higher  end 
until  the  ultimate  end  is  merged  and  lost  in  the  efful- 
gent glory  of  Him  whose  wisdom  foreordained  the 
course  and  whose  power  caused  those  Heaven-born 
forces  to  go  forth  upon  their  prescribed  orbits  in  space 
and  appointed  errands  in  time. 

If  men  call  this  sophistry,  then  only  sophistry  can 
defend  the  crown  rights  of  the  Creator.  If  men  deny 
that  this  is  genuine  freedom,  then  the  Calvinist  is 
quick  to  make  reply  that  any  other  freedom  means 
anarchy  in  history  and  as  many  little  deities  each 
supreme  in  his  own  petty  sphere,  as  there  are  free 
agents  in  the  wide  world  of  being.  This  "untenants 
Heaven  of  its  God,"  this  breaks  up  every  possible  phil- 
osophy of  history  into  a  wreckage  of  dismembered 
fragments ;  this  turns  into  "the  dream  of  a  dreamer 
who  dreams  that  he  has  been  dreaming"  the  splendid 
vision  of  the  poet. 

"And  I  doubt  not  through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs 
And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process  of  the 
suns." 

In  estimating  the  gross  theological  assets  of  John 
Calvin's  short  life,  how  appalling  is  the  magnitude  of 
the  task!  Certainly  no  one  can  read  history  and  be 
blind  to  the  greatness  of  his  work.  He  was  neither 
prince  nor  pope,  and  yet  his  work  outshines  that  of 
both.     Denying  and  defying  the  Divine  right  of  kings. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  55 

he  established  a  magistracy  at  Geneva  more  enduring 
than  any  crown,  more  potent  than  any  scepter,  while 
he  touched  with  the  magic  wand  of  his  theological 
faith  and  genius  the  rock  from  which  flowed  out  over 
all  the  broad  plains  of  modern  history  the  life-giving 
streams  of  equality  before  God  and  democracy  among 
men. 

Historians  argue  whether  he  was  greater  as  theo- 
logian or  as  magistrate.  We  believe  that  his  theo- 
logical thought  pre-determined  his  views  of  civil  as 
well  as  of  ecclesiastical  government.  We  believe  that 
his  work  was  great  and  his  fame  enduring  because, 
first  of  all,  he  held  to  his  Biblical  conception  of  God, 
and  with  relentless  perseverance  he  carried  it,  with  its 
implications  and  applications,  into  his  work  as 
preacher,  as  educator,  as  statesman,  and  as  reformer. 

Let  men  say  what  they  will,  Calvin's  niche  in  the 
pantheon  of  the  world's  few  inmiortals  is  forever  as- 
sured. The  record  is  wanting  that  he  was  ever  for- 
mally ordained,  either  as  Roman  Catholic  priest  or  as 
Protestant  preacher,  and  yet  the  same  living  God  who 
could  use  Saul  of  Tarsus,  unordained  of  man,  in  the 
first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  Dwight  L. 
Moody,  unordained  of  man,  in  the  nineteenth  century 
of  the  Christian  era,  used  John  Calvin,  the  pale,  frail 
layman  of  Geneva,  to  turn  a  new  and  mighty  page  in 
the  history  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  Christianity, 
and  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  His  work  was  not 
creative,  it  was  constructive.  He  did  not  originate,  he 
organized.  His  name  has  been  "scarred  with  cal- 
umny" ;  his  work  has  been  traduced  with  ridicule  and 
slander ;  his  thinking  has  been  combated,  but  it  has 
never  been  belittled  except  by  little  and  impoverished 
spirits.     His  intellectual  powers  have  been  conceded 


56  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

by  all  to  have  been  of  the  very  highest  order,  and  they 
were  unselfishly  consecrated  with  the  best  light  his 
age  afforded  to  the  God  that  gave  them  to  him  and 
to  the  Lord  whose  service  he  espoused. 

He  dwelt  aloft  amid  the  cold  and  placid  peaks  of 
God's  eternal  truth.  In  a  most  unusual  way,  he  com- 
bined the  contemplative  genius  of  the  philosopher  with 
the  practical  genius  of  the  man  of  affairs.  He  loved 
and  longed  for  quiet  and  yet  he  lived  his  life  in  con- 
stant scenes  of  civil  strife  and  theological  controversy. 
He  was  human  with  all  his  greatness,  and  his  faults 
and  weaknesses,  like  those  of  every  other  great  man, 
seem  all  the  greater  because  he  was  himself  so  great. 

We  devoutly  believe  that  it  was  because  he  held 
the  theology  which  he  taught  that  he  was,  under  God, 
the  force  he  was,  and  that,  under  God,  he  did  the  work 
he  did ;  and  we  devoutly  believe  that  the  truths  of  that 
same  logic-ribbed,  bible-based,  crimson-stained  theol- 
ogy will,  under  God,  continue  to  produce,  as  it  has 
been  for  these  four  hundred  years  producing,  men  of 
giant  stature,  men  of  heroic  mould,  men  of  stalwart 
thought,  men  of  genuine  Christian  faith  and  culture 
and  conduct  and  character,  who,  learning  God's  truth 
in  God's  book,  led  by  God's  spirit  in  God's  service, 
will  do  well  and  faithfully  their  appointed  work,  and 
will  leave  a  beneficent  legacy  to  the  generations  that 
come  after. 


Rev.  Thomas  Gary  Johnscjn,  D.  D., 
Richmond,  Va. 


CALVIN'S  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO 
CHURCH   POLITY. 


Thomas  Gary  Johnson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 
Richmond,  Virginia. 

'  Calvin  did  not  originate  the  principles  of  ecclesi- 
astical polity  which  he  describes  in  his  writings  and 
which  he  endeavored  to  establish  in  Geneva.  Having 
repudiated  utterly  the  whole  man-made  polity  of  Rome, 
he  carried  men  back  to  the  New  Testament  for  the 
God-given  polity  of  the  Church,  He  tried  to  draw 
from  the  apostolic  writings  the  divinely  given  prin- 
ciples of  church  government,  and  to  apply  these  prin- 
ciples in  the  government  of  the  church  of  Geneva. 

Accordingly,  in  order  to  have  clearness  in  the 
treatment  of  the  subject  assigned  us,  we  shall  attempt, 
first,  to  indicate,  very  briefly,  the  nature  of  the  gov- 
ernment given  of  God  to  the  church  in  the  apostolic 
age;  second,  to  show,  very  briefly  again,  how  far  the 
church  apostatized  from  the  divinely-given  type  of 
government ;  and  third,  to  set  forth  the  part  of  Calvin 
in  exposing  the  apostasy  and  in  leading  back  the 
church  toward  the  pattern  shown  in  the  mount  of  New 
Testament  teaching. 

First,  then,  of  the  nature  of  the  governuient  given  to 
the  Neiv  Testament  Church. 

The  government  of  the  New  Testament  church  is 
easily    distinguished    from    civil    government.      They 


58  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

differ  in  their  instruments,  aims,  and  ways  of  regard- 
ing God,  The  instruments  of  civil  government  include 
amongst  them  physical  force,  the  sword  being  the 
emblem  of  its  power.  The  aim  of  civil  government  is 
to  conserve  justice  between  man  and  man  and  to  se- 
cure the  temporal  well-being  of  the  governed.  God, 
as  regarded  by  civil  government,  is  regarded  in  the 
aspects  and  relations  of  Creator  and  moral  Governor 
of  the  universe.  The  instrument  of  New  Testament 
church  government,  on  the  other  hand,  was  not  the 
material  sword,  not  physical  force,  but  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  the  word  of  God.  The  aim  of  the  New 
Testament  church  government  was  to  further  the 
spiritual,  and,  chiefly,  the  eternal  welfare  of  the  gov- 
erned. It  aimed  not  at  the  conservation  of  justice,  but 
at  the  moral  and  spiritual  improvement  of  the  gov- 
erned. It  regarded  God  as  Redeemer  as  well  as  Creator 
and  Governor  of  the  universe. 

The  distinction  between  the  two  kinds  of  govern 
ment  had  long  been  before  God's  people  in  a  more  or 
less  vague  way;  but  was  clearly  developed  by  our 
Lord  and  His  apostles.  Not  only  was  the  distinction 
between  them  clearly  developed ;  the  separation  of  the 
two  governments,  in  fact  as  in  law,  was  brought  about 
by  the  teaching  and  providence  in  the  apostolic  age. 
An  independent  and  self-governing  church,  under  God, 
came  to  stand  out  over  against  the  civil  power  as 
embodied  in  the  Graeco-Roman  Empire,  Christian 
people  found  themselves  in  actual  relations  to  two 
commonwealths,  one  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual,  the 
other,  the  world  power  of  Rome ;  the  one  using  the 
word  of  God,  the  other  using  the  sword  material ;  the 
one  seeking  spiritual  harmony  with  God  and  eternal 
well-being,  the  other  seeking  temporal  order  and  tem- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  59 

poral  well-being ;  the  one  regarding  God  as  in  Christ 
redeeming  and  saving  His  own,  the  other  regarding 
God,  if  at  all,  merely  as  the  Creator  and  moral  Gov- 
ernor of  the  universe.  At  the  end  of  the  apostolic  age 
and  during  the  next  two  centuries.  Christian  people 
found  these  governments  struggling  with  one  another 
— found  the  civil  government  trying  to  destroy  all  the 
representatives  of  the  ecclesiastical  commonwealth; 
found  the  ecclesiastical  commonwealth  trying  to  win 
the  heart's  allegiance  of  all  men,  while  leaving  them 
to  become  better  citizens  of  a  state  rendered  inhostile 
to  the  church. 

The  peculiar  power  with  which  the  church  was  dow- 
ered, was,  in  part,  that  of  bearing  witness  to  Christ 
and  to  His  teaching,  and,  in  part,  that  of  authorita- 
tively governing  its  members  from  the  smallest  to  the 
greatest,  by  the  application  of  the  Scriptures  which  are 
the  rightful  constitution  of  the  ecclesiastical  common- 
wealth. According  to  the  New  Testament,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church  severally  are  to  bear  witness  to 
the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  and  severally  are  to  rule  them- 
selves and  others,  so  far  as  they  can,  by  teaching  and 
admonition,  in  consonance  with  the  same  truth ;  but 
the  church  as  a  whole  is  to  govern  itself  with  all  its 
members  through  chosen  and  ordained  organs — 
through  a  "plurality  of  chosen  representatives,"  offi- 
cers organized  into  the  form  of  courts  or  parliaments. 
It  is  also  to  teach  through  such  courts,  but  generally 
through  certain  of  these  representative  officers  acting 
singly.  These  representative  rulers,  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, are  called  indifferently  elders  or  bishops.  In 
the  apostolic  writings  every  elder  is  a  bishop  and 
every  bishop  is  an  elder.  These  scriptural  representa- 
tive church  rulers — presbyter-bishops — existed  in  the 


6o  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

later  years  of  Paul  in  two  classes,  viz. :  a  class  of 
bishops  called  to  rule  only,  and  a  class  of  bishops 
called  to  labor  in  word  and  doctrine  as  well  as  to  rule 
— the  passing-  away  of  the  apostles  having  necessitated 
the  development  of  representative  teachers,  and  that 
development  having  taken  place  naturally  within  the 
sphere  of  the  eldership. 

A  plurality  of  these  representative  rulers  was  to 
be  elected  by  every  local  church ;  and  they,  after  or- 
ganization under  a  moderator,  or  president,  were  to 
govern  that  church  on  the  principles  set  forth  in  God's 
word.  When  a  matter  of  general  concern  should  come 
before  them,  they  were  to  convene  with  representa- 
tives of  the  church  elsewhere,  and  with  them  deliberate 
and  conclude  concerning  the  matter;  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  example  of  the  presbyter-bishops  of  Antioch 
carrying  the  question,  whether  or  not  the  Gentile  con- 
verts should  be  circumcised,  to  the  synod  at  Jerusalem. 
Thus  the  church  was  to  govern  itself,  under  God,  and 
in  the  light  of  His  word  by  a  graded  series  of  courts, 
made  up  of  chosen  representatives  of  two  classes. 

To  summarize  still  more  briefly:  Ecclesiastical 
government,  according  to  the  New  Testament,  is  a 
government  in  which  the  power  is  purely  spiritual — 
a  power  of  interpreting,  declaring,  and  applying  the 
will  of  Christ,  the  Head  of  the  church,  as  that  will  is 
revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  This  power  is  used  by 
the  members  of  the  church  in  choosing  their  repre- 
sentative officers.  It  is  applied  in  governing  by  plu- 
ralities of  chosen  representatives  of  two  classes,  teach- 
ing elders,  or  teaching  bishops,  and  ruling  elders,  as 
they  may  be  called  indifferently,  organized  into  courts, 
or  parliaments,  or  congresses,  or  synods,  or  assemblies, 
or  presbyteries,  and  these  courts  so  related  as  to  real- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  6i 

ize  the  idea  of  unity.  There  is  neither  democracy  nor 
monarchy  in  the  New  Testament  church  government. 
The  principles  of  that  poHty  are  those  of  the  spiritual 
republic — the  principles  of  perfect  representative  gov- 
ernment according  to  a  divine  constitution. 

Second,  of  the  Church's  Apostatizing  from  the  type 
of  government  set  up  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
apostles. 

Unhappily  the  church  did  not  long  maintain  its 
divinely  given  type  of  government.  Churchmen 
thought  they  could  improve  on  the  divine  plan.  Under 
the  influence  of  the  current  civil  government — that  of 
the  empire — which  had  displaced  the  old  Roman  re- 
public to  the  seeming  advantage  of  the  governed ;  and 
in  the  presence  of  many  foes,  internal  and  external, 
it  was  deemed  best  to  have  rule  by  one  strong  presby- 
ter-bishop rather  than  by  a  body  of  presbyter-bishops. 
It  was  thought  that  one  man — a  dictator — could  act 
with  more  dispatch  than  a  collective  body ;  and  that 
he  could  more  easily  and  effectively  stifle  heresy  in  its 
first  outcroppings,  or  throttle  schism  in  its  nascency. 
Accordingly,  here  and  there,  even  before  the  end  of 
the  second  century,  the  prerogatives  of  the  presbytery, 
in  certain  congregations,  in  part  were  concentrated  in 
the  hands  of  one  presbyter;  and  to  him  the  name  of 
bishop  was  more  and  more  restricted.  Thus  came  into 
existence  congregational  monarchs — the  bishops  of  the 
Middle  Ages  in  the  first  stage  of  their  evolution.  A 
little  later,  some  congregational  bishops,  partly  by 
the  cession  of  further  prerogatives  on  the  part  of  the 
presbytery,  and  partly  by  usurpation  of  still  other  par- 
liamentary functions,  grew  into  diocesan  stature.  To- 
ward the  end  of  the  third  century,  certain  diocesans 


62  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

grew  by  similar  means  into  the  stature  of  archbishops. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century,  a  few  of  the 
greater  archbishops  approached  the  patriarchal  rank. 
During  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Pope  of  Rome  came  to 
be,  according  to  the  papal  theory,  of  right  the  absolute 
monarch  of  the  whole  church.  Actually  he  ruled  as 
an  oppressive  tyrant  over  the  whole  of  western  Chris- 
tendom for  centuries  prior  to  the  Reformation,  though 
not  without  various  rebellions  and  insurrections  against 
his  rule,  some  of  which  seriously  threatened  his  over- 
throw. 

Meanwhile,  along  with  the  centralizing  drift  into 
monarchy,  the  people  were  stripped  by  degrees  of  the 
elective  franchise.  They  had  chosen  their  officers  in 
the  apostolic  church.  After  the  development  of  the  old 
catholic  bishop  into  his  full-grown  diocesan  maturity, 
he  began,  in  the  west,  to  appoint  presbyters  and  dea- 
cons who  should  labor  in  his  bounds,  taking  the  right 
of  electing  them  out  of  the  people's  hands.  Mindful  of 
their  ancient  privilege  of  electing  their  officers,  the 
people  sometimes  anticipated  action  by  the  clergy  on 
occasion  of  a  vacancy  in  the  bishopric,  by  a  more  or 
less  tumultuous  calling  of  the  man  of  their  choice.  But 
such  popular  action  became  rarer  with  the  passing 
centuries ;  and,  ere  the  depths  of  the  Middle  Ages  had 
altogether  ceased.  A  vacancy  in  the  episcopate  was 
filled  by  the  choice  of  the  cathedral  clergy.  The  bishop 
elect  after  obtaining  the  sanction  of  the  pope,  might 
be  ordained  by  the  other  bishops  of  the  province. 
Powerful  civil  rulers,  throughout  many  decades  and 
over  wide  regions,  bent  this  papal  mode  of  filling  offices 
in  the  church,  so  as  to  place  therein  their  favorites; 
but,   in   general,  after   1073,   and  thence  down   to   the 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  63 

Reformation,     the     papal     theory     found     widespread 
application. 

Not  only  did  the  church  forsake  the  representative 
type  of  government  for  the  monarchical,  and  the  elec- 
tive rights  of  the  people  for  the  papal  method  of  filling 
offices,  but  it  essentially  changed  the  nature  of  eccle- 
siastical power.  According  to  the  New  Testament, 
church  power  is,  as  has  appeared,  declarative  and  min- 
isterial. The  church  has  the  power  only  to  find  out, 
declare,  and  do,  the  will  of  Christ.  But  in  the  Middle 
Ages  the  church  claimed  a  power  magisterial  and  legis- 
lative. It  not  only  claimed  the  right ;  it  assumed  to 
exercise  the  power  of  sole  authoritative  interpreter  of 
Scripture,  and  forced  its  faulty  interpretations  as  the 
truth  of  God  on  the  protesting  consciences  of  multi- 
tudes. Moreover,  to  Scriptures  it  added  traditions, 
which  it  made  of  superior  authority  to  Scripture,  since 
it  bent  the  word  of  God  by  the  superimposed  tradi- 
tional rubbish. 

Not  only  so ;  the  church  of  the  Middle  Ages  joined 
to  the  magisterial  and  legislative  power,  which  it  had 
substituted  for  the  ministerial  and  declarative  power 
of  the  New  Testament  church,  the  power  of  state — 
physical  force.  It  merged  its  peculiar  character  as  a 
kingdom  whose  one  weapon  is  truth. 

Once  more ;  amongst  these  changes,  the  ministry 
of  the  New  Testament,  mere  ofificials  in  the  spiritual 
commonwealth,  had  given  place  to  a  special  priest- 
hood, whose  functions  were  not  primarily  to  teach,  to 
rule,  or  to  serve  tables,  but  to  ofifer  sacrifice  and  ad- 
minister sacraments. 

Thus,  while  still  retaining  the  names  of  the  officers 
of  the  New  Testament  church — bishops,  elders,  and 
deacons, — the  church  of  Rome  had  changed  the  genius 


64  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

of  her  government  from  representative  to  monarchial, 
stripped  the  covenant  people  of  the  right  of  elect- 
ing their  officers,  perverted  the  nature  of  ecclesi- 
astical power  and  joined  to  it  the  pov\rer  of  state;  and 
substituted  a  special  priesthood  for  the  simple  ofificers 
of  the  New  Testament  church. 

In  the  remarks  just  made,  we  have  given  only  the 
meagerest  sketch  of  the  apostasy  of  the  Romish  church, 
from  the  type  of  government  set  up  by  our  Lord  and 
His  apostles  ;  but  the  limits  of  our  time  allow  nothing 
more ;  and  the  sketch  clears  the  way  for, 

Third,  the  discussion  of  our  real  subject,  Calvin's  con- 
tributions to  the  church  polity,  or,  the  part  of  Calvin  in 
exposing  Rome's  apostasy  and  in  expounding  a  type  of 
church  government  closely  approximating  the  Nezv  Tes- 
tament type,  and  in  leading  a  portion  of  the  church  hack 
to  it. 

That  member  of  a  farmer's  household  contributes 
not  a  little  to  the  production  of  a  good  crop,  who  does 
the  most  to  clear  the  ground  in  which  it  is  to  be  grown, 
of  obnoxious  growths,  breaks  it  up  and  makes  it  ready 
for  the  reception  of  good  seed ;  and  that  one  of  the 
great  reformers  whose  exposition  of  the  falsity  of  the 
Romish  system  was  most  radical  and  effectively  pub- 
lished did  not  least  to  contribute  to  the  correct  polity. 
It  is  to  be  doubted  whether  any  reformer  really  con- 
tributed more  by  this  sort  of  preparatory  work,  to- 
ward a  rectified  church  polity,  than  Calvin.  Calvin's 
abilities  to  gather  the  facts  of  Scripture  teaching  and 
to  throw  them  into  system  was  so  pre-eminent  that  we 
ordinarily  think  of  him  as  an  incarnation  of  construc- 
tive genius.  His  genius  for  the  destruction  of  the 
false  and  vicious  was  not  less  great.  The  work  of 
demolition  had  been  done,  in  part,  indeed,  in  the  gen- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  65 

eration  before  Calvin.  Luther  had  been  stalking 
among  the  fabrications  of  Rome,  He  had  shattered 
the  columns  and  the  walls.  But  it  was  given  to  Calvin 
to  crush  into  fine  dust  the  foundations.  Luther  with 
the  flail  of  a  Titan,  had  bruised,  crushed  and  beaten 
down  many  noxious  Roman  growths.  It  was  left  to 
Calvin,  with  mattock  keen  as  a  scimitar,  to  uproot 
them.  Luther  had  swept  ofif  the  huge  tubercular  ulcers 
which  bespoke  the  vanishing  spirituality  of  the  Romish 
body, — had  swept  them  off  as  if  with  a  great  two- 
handed  sword.  It  was  left  to  Calvin  to  go  after  the 
roots  and  the  rootlets  of  the  ulcers  with  a  scalpel. 

As  far  as  men  would  submit  to  his  surgery,  Calvin 
could  take  out  the  uttermost  rootlets  of  these  putrid 
and  cancerous  ulcers.  What  he  could  do,  he  did.  His 
exposition  of  the  unscriptural  character  of  the  Romish 
church  was  thoroughgoing,  complete  and  effective  with 
all  the  lovers  of  the  truth  who  pondered  it.  The  war- 
fare which  he  made  against  the  Roman  scheme  of 
church  government  was,  indeed,  incidental  to  his  es- 
tablishment of  his  own  system.  Naturally,  therefore, 
he  attacked  the  Roman  scheme  now  in  one  of  its  as- 
pects and  now  in  another  of  them,  the  point  of  attack 
being  determined  in  every  case  by  the  corresponding 
truth,  of  his  own  system,  which  he  was  just  then  in- 
culcating. But  if  his  attacks  were  incidental,  and 
against  peculiar  tenets,  they  were  nevertheless  radical, 
reaching  to  the  innermost  springs  of  the  open  sores. 

Hear  this  impeachment  of  the  Romish  church  gov- 
ernment of  his  day — an  impeachment  which  he,  by 
previous  exposition,  had  justified :  "Now  if  anyone 
will  closely  observe  and  strictly  examine  this  whole 
form  of  ecclesiastical  government,  which  exists  at  the 
present  day  under  the  Papacy,  he  will  find  it  a  nest  of 


(i^  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

the  most  lawless  and  ferocious  banditti  in  the  world. 
Everything  in  it  is  clearly  so  dissimilar  and  repugnant 
to  the  institution  of  Christ,  so  degenerated  from  the 
ancient   regulations   and  usages   of  the   church,   so  at 
variance  with  nature  and  reason,  that  no  greater  in- 
jury can  be  done  to  Christ  than  by  pleading  his  name 
in  defense  of  such  a  disorderly  government.    We  (they 
say)   are  the  pillars  of  the  church,  the  prelates  of  re- 
ligion, the  vicars  of  Christ,  the  heads  of  the  faithful, 
because  we  have  succeeded  to  the  power  and  authority 
of  the  apostles.     They  are  perpetually  vaunting  these 
fooleries  as  if  they  were  talking  to  blocks  of  wood ;  but 
whenever  they  repeat  these  boasts,  I  will  ask  them  in 
return,  what  they  have  in  common  with  the  apostles. 
...   So  when  we  assert  that  their  kingdom  is  the 
tyranny  of  Antichrist,  they  immediately  reply,  that  it 
is  that  venerable  hierarchy,  which  has  been  so  often 
commended  by  great  and  holy  men.     As  though  the 
holy  fathers,  when  they  praise  the  ecclesiastical  hier- 
archy, or  spiritual  government,  as  it  had  been  delivered 
to  them  by  the  hand  of  the  apostles,  ever  dreamed  of 
this    chaos    of    deformity    and    desolation,    where    the 
bishops,  for  the  most  part,  are  illiterate  asses,  unac- 
quainted with  the  first  and  plainest  rudiments  of  the 
faith,  or,  in  some  instances,  are  children  just  out  of 
leading  strings;  and  if  any  be  more  learned — which, 
however,  is  a  rare  case — they  consider  a  bishopric  to 
be  nothing  but  a  title  of  splendor  and  magnificence ; 
where  rectors  of  churches  think  no  more  of  feeding  the 
flock,  than  a  shoe-maker  does  of  ploughing;  where  all 
things  are  confounded  with  a  dispersion  worse  than 
that  of  Babel,   so  that  there  can  no  longer  be  seen 
any  clear  vestige  of  the  administration  practiced  in  the 
time   of   the    fathers."     Thus    speaks    Calvin    in    Book 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  dj 

IV,  Chapter  5,  Section  13  of  the  Institutes,  a  chapter 
under  the  heading:  "The  Ancient  Form  of  Govern- 
ment Entirely  Subverted  by  the  Papal  Tyranny," — a 
chapter  in  which  he  has  shown  that  all  the  "rights  of 
the  people  had  been  entirely  taken  away," — "Their  suf- 
frages, assent,  subscriptions,  and  everything  of  this 
kind" ;  a  chapter  in  which  he  shows  that  the  elec- 
tors of  the  clergy,  whether  canons  of  the  cathedrals, 
as  in  the  case  of  bishops,  or  bishops  in  the  case  of 
lower  clergy,  are  governed  by  considerations  far  dif- 
ferent from  those  held  forth  in  I  Timothy  iii.  2-7,  since, 
instead  of  choosing  to  ofifice  persons,  "blameless  in 
character,  monogamous,  .  .  .  apt  to  teach,  .  .  .not 
brawlers,"  they  chose,  commonly  drunkards,  fornica- 
tors, gamblers,  Simoniacs, — persons  who  force  "them- 
selves into  the  possession  of  a  church,  as  into  an 
enemy's  farm,"  who  obtain  it  "by  a  legal  process,  who 
purchase  it  with  money,  who  gain  it  by  dishonorable 
services,  who,  while  infants  just  beginning  to  lisp, 
succeed  to  it  as  an  inheritance  transmitted  by  their 
uncles  and  cousins,  and  sometimes  even  by  fathers  to 
their  illegitimate  children,"f  and  persons  who  cannot 
be  present  with  the  flock  to  which  they  are  chosen 
even  if  they  would,  having  already  many  benefices, — 
canonries,  abbacies,  bishoprics,  it  may  be. 

In  Chapters  VIII,  X,  and  XI,  of  Book  IV  of  the 
Institutes,  he  shows  in  the  same  thorough  way  the 
papal  and  prelatic,  licentious  and  cruel  perversion  of 
church  power;  that  the  hierarchy,  throwing  off  the 
role  of  teachers  and  ministers  of  the  divine  will  as 
revealed  in  God's  word,  have  assumed  to  make  and 
impose  laws  of  their  own.     Having  exposed  the  per- 

t  Institutes,  Book  IV.,  Chapter  5,  Section  VI. 


68  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

version  and  contemplated  the  fruits  of  this  usurped 
legislative  pov^er,  he  asks:  "How  can  they  vindicate 
themselves,  while  they  esteem  it  infinitely  more  crim- 
inal to  have  omitted  auricular  confession  at  a  stated 
time  of  the  year  than  to  have  lived  a  most  iniquitous 
life  for  a  whole  year  together;  to  have  infected  the 
tongue  with  the  least  taste  of  animal  food  on  Friday, 
than  to  have  polluted  the  body  by  committing  fornica- 
tion every  day ;  to  have  put  a  hand  to  any  honest  labor 
on  a  day  consecrated  to  any  pretended  saint,  than  to 
have  continually  employed  all  the  members  in  the 
most  flagitious  actions ;  for  a  priest  to  be  connected 
in  one  lawful  marriage,  than  to  be  defiled  with  a  thou- 
sand adulteries ;  to  have  failed  of  performing  one  vow 
of  pilgrimage,  than  to  violate  every  other  promise ;  not 
to  have  lavished  anything  on  the  enormous,  superflu- 
ous, and  useless  magnificence  of  churches,  than  to  have 
failed  of  relieving  the  most  pressing  necessities  of  the 
poor;  to  have  passed  by  an  idol  without  some  token  of 
honor,  than  to  have  insulted  all  the  men  in  the  world ; 
not  to  have  muttered  over,  at  certain  seasons,  a  multi- 
tude of  words  without  any  meaning,  than  to  have  never 
ofifered  a  genuine  prayer  from  the  heart?  What  is  it 
for  men  to  make  the  commandment  of  God  of  none 
efifect,  if  this  be  not?"* 

Calvin  was  not  less  careful  in  his  criticism  of  the 
church  because  of  its  having  joined  the  power  of  the 
sword  with  the  power  of  the  church  and  the  Pope's 
having  become  an  earthly  sovereign.  In  Book  IV, 
Chapter  lo,  of  Institutes,  sweeping  back  over  his  pre- 
vious teaching,  he  says : 

"While  the  Romanists  boast  of  their  spiritual  juris- 

*  Institutes,  Book  IV.,  Chapter  ic,  Section  X. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  69 

diction,  it  is  easy  to  show  that  nothing  is  more  con- 
trary to  the  order  appointed  by  Christ,  and  that  it 
has  no  more  resemblance  to  the  ancient  practice  than 
darkness  has  to  Hght. 

"Though  we  have  not  said  all  that  might  be  ad- 
duced for  this  purpose,  and  what  we  have  said  has  been 
condensed  within  small  compass,  yet  I  trust  we  have 
so  confuted  our  adversaries  as  to  leave  no  room  for 
anyone  to  doubt  that  the  spiritual  power  arrogated  by 
the  Pope  and  all  his  hierarchy,  is  a  tyrannical  usurpa- 
tion, chargeable  with  impious  opposition  to  the  word 
of  God,  and  injustice  to  his  people.  Under  the  term 
spiritual  power,  I  include  their  audacity  in  fabricating 
new  doctrines  by  which  they  have  seduced  the  un- 
happy people  from  the  native  purity  of  the  word  of 
God,  the  iniquitous  traditions  by  which  they  have 
ensnared  them,  and  the  pretended  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction which  they  exercise  by  their  suffragans, 
vicars,  penitentiaries,  and  officials.  For  if  we  allow 
Christ  any  kingdom  among  us,  all  this  kind  of  domina- 
tion must  immediately  fall  to  the  ground.  The  power 
of  the  sword,  which  they  also  claim,  as  that  is  not 
exercised  over  consciences,  but  operates  on  property, 
is  irrelevant  to  our  subject ;  though  in  this  it  is  worth 
while  to  remark,  that  they  are  all  consistent  with  them- 
selves, and  are  at  the  greatest  possible  distance  from 
the  character  they  would  be  thought  to  sustain  to  the 
church.  Here  I  am  not  censuring  the  particular  vices 
cf  individuals,  but  the  general  wickedness  and  common 
pest  of  the  whole  order,  which  they  would  consider  as 
degraded,  if  it  were  not  distinguished  by  wealth  and 
lofty  titles.  If  we  consult  the  authority  of  Christ  on 
this  subject,  there  is  no  doubt  that  He  intended  to 
exclude  the  ministers  of  His  word  from  civil  dominion 


70  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

and  secular  sovereignty,  when  He  said :  "The  kings 
of  the  earth  exercise  dominion  over  them ;  but  it  shall 
not  be  so  among  you."*  His  criticism  is  a  demonstra- 
tion that  the  ecclesiastic,  as  such,  should  not  vi^ield 
the  power  of  the  sword.  On  a  kindred  subject,  the 
proper  relation  of  church  and  state,  Calvin  was  not 
indeed  prepared  for  an  adequate  criticism,  as  will  ap- 
pear in  the  sequel.  Believing  that  the  church  should 
not  possess  the  power  of  civil  coercion,  he  believed, 
nevertheless,  that  it  was  "the  part  of  pious  kings  and 
princes  to  support  religion  by  laws,  edicts,  and  judicial 
sentences."! 

In  irrefutable  fashion,  he  showed  that  the  Romish 
church  had  substituted  for  the  officers  of  the  New 
Testament  church,  a  special  priesthood ;  showed  that 
the  monkish  priests, — the  mendicants  and  a  few  others 
excepted, — spent  their  time  in  the  cloister  either  in 
chanting  or  muttering  over  masses,  as  if  it  were  the 
design  of  Jesus  Christ  that  the  presbyters  should  be 
appointed  for  this  purpose,  or  as  if  the  nature  of  their 
office  admitted  it ;  he  showed  that  they  did  not  admin- 
ister sacraments  or  execute  any  other  branch  of  public 
duty,  whereas  the  New  Testament  presbyter  must 
tend  his  flock.  He  showed,  also,  that  many  of  the 
secular  priests  were  mere  mercenaries,  who  hired  them- 
selves to  labor  by  the  day  in  singing  and  saying  masses  ; 
and  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  priests  were  not  at 
all  doing  what  God  requires  of  the  presbyter,  viz.,  feed- 
ing the  church  and  administering  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  Christ.  He  showed  that,  in  his  day,  there  was  in 
point  of  character,  no  body  of  men  more  infamous  for 

*Book,  IV.,  Chapter  ii,  Sections  VII  and  VIII. 
tBook  IV.,  Chapter  ii,  Section  XVI. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  71 

profusion,  delicacy,  luxury  and  pruflij^acy  of  every 
kind ;  that  no  class  of  men  contained  more  apt  or 
expert  masters  of  every  species  of  imposture,  fraud, 
treachery  and  perfidy ;  that  nowhere  could  be  found 
equal  cunning-  and  audacity  in  the  commission  of 
crime ;  that  there  v^as  scarcely  one  bishop  and  not  one 
in  a  hundred  of  their  parochial  clergy  who,  if  sentence 
were  passed  upon  his  conduct,  according  to  the  ancient 
canons,  would  not  be  excommunicated,  or,  at  the  very 
least,  deposed  from  his  office. 

Thus  Calvin  showed  the  world  of  his  day,  so  far 
as  it  had  eyes  to  see,  that  the  government  of  the  Rom- 
ish church  was  wholly  unscriptural  and  not  only  un- 
scriptural  but  morally  nasty  and  against  reason  and 
nature. 

In  all  his  criticism  of  Rome,  in  revealing  her  can- 
cerous growths,  he  was  controlled  by  intensest  honesty, 
desire  for  correspondence  with  the  objective  facts. 
And  in  this  criticism  he  did  great  service  to  the  cause 
of  true  ecclesiology.  Men  who  arc  not  aware  that 
they  have  putrid  organs  are  not  inclined  energetically 
to  seek  surgical  aid.  Men  who  do  not  feel  the  rotten- 
ness in  the  political  life  around  them  are  not  w<jnt  to 
seek  its  cleansing.  Recognition  of  the  evil  of  the 
Romish  polity — a  clear  vision  of  it, — was  needed,  that 
men  might  turn  with  adequate  energy  and  persistence 
to  a  nobler  form  of  church  government. 

But  his  work  nowhere  stfjpi)efl  with  the  rlestruction 
of  the  false,  the  vicious  and  tlie  monstrous.  His  was 
pre-eminently  a  constructive  genius.  From  his  very 
nature  he  must  take  the  elements  of  truth  accepted  by 
him  and  throw  them  into  a  system.  Accordingly,  as 
early  as  the  summer  of  1536,  he  expressed  his  wish 
that  preachers,  bishops,  and  elders  should  be  chosen 


72  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

according  to  scriptural  method  and  given  their  scrip- 
tural functions ;  and  by  the  year  1542  he  had  the  system 
fully  developed  and  in  partial  application  in  Geneva. 
It  is  but  just  to  observe  here  that  it  w^as  in  the  sphere 
of  church  polity  that  he  did  his  constructive  work  with 
least  of  aid  from  previous  teachers  this  side  the  apos- 
tolic age.  When  building  his  doctrine  of  trinity,  he 
wrought  in  the  light  of  Athanasius  and  Augustine.  In 
setting  up  his  doctrine  of  Christology,  he  worked  in 
the  light  of  Leo  I,  and  of  the  Chalcedon  council.  In 
the  realm  of  anthropology,  Augustine  had  laid  out  and 
graded  the  way.  On  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement, 
Anselm  had  thrown  a  great  light.  On  the  doctrine  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  Ratramnus  and  Berengar.  On  jus- 
tification by  faith,  Lefevre  and  Luther.  But  if  Calvin 
got  suggestions  touching  the  Biblical  form  of  church 
polity  from  Lambert,  and  Oecolampadius,  he  got  little 
more.  With  little  help,  he  derived  his  system  of  eccle- 
siastical government,  for  the  most  part,  from  the 
scriptures  of  the  New  Testament, — a  system  forming 
the  approximately  Biblical  counterpart  of  his  theologi- 
cal system  and  helping  to  conserve  that  system  when- 
ever adopted  by  a  body  of  God's  people,  an  ecclesias- 
tical system  which  insures  the  largest  individual  liberty 
compatible  with  order  and  common  well-being,  sug- 
gests analogous  civil  governments  and  has  been  a 
powerful  factor  making  for  free  representative  govern- 
ment in  the  state. 

In  this  was  his  greatest  contribution  to  church 
polity,  his  eduction  from  the  scripture  of  so  many 
elements  of  the  New  Testament  plan  of  church 
government. 

To  appreciate  this  contribution  we  must  bring  be- 
fore ourselves  the  main  features  of  the  plan  of  govern- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  73 

ment  which  he  constructed,  and  which,  with  modifica- 
tions he  applied  in  the  Genevan  church,  viz.:  The  self- 
government  of  the  church  under  the  headship  of 
Christ;  the  stress  laid  upon  the  ecclesiastical  discip- 
line of  all  the  members  from  the  smallest  to  the 
greatest;  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  governing  by  a 
consistory,  or  parliamentary  court,  consisting  of  elders 
of  two  classes,  viz. :  ruling  elders  and  elders  who  not 
only  rule  but  also  labor  in  word  and  doctrine;  and 
the  restoration  of  the  bishop,  presbyter,  and  deacon, 
to  New  Testament  dimensions  and  functions. 
Taking  up  these  features  in  their  order : 

First.  The  self-government  of  the  Church  wider  the 
headship  of  Christ. 

Calvin  taught  that  men  may  not  "enjoin  upon  the 
observance  of  the  church  anything  that  they  have  in- 
vented themselves,  independently  of  the  word  of  God" ; 
that  "this  power  was  unknown  to  the  apostles  and  so 
frequently  interdicted  to  the  ministers  of  the  church 
by  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  that  it  was  a  marvel  that 
they  have  dared  to  usurp  it,  and  still  dare  to  maintain 
it,  contrary  to  the  example  of  the  apostles  and  in  defi- 
ance of  the  express  prohibitions  of  God's  word."  He 
taught  that  everything  pertaining  to  the  perfect  rule 
of  a  holy  life,  the  Lord  has  comprehended  in  His  law, 
so  that  there  remains  nothing  for  men  to  add  to  that 
summary;  and  that  He  has  done  this,  firstly,  that  since 
all  rectitude  of  life  consists  in  the  conformity  of  all 
our  actions  to  His  will,  as  their  standard,  we  might 
consider  Him  as  the  sole  master  and  director  of  our 
conduct;  and  secondly,  to  show  that  He  requires  of 
us  nothing  more  than  obedience" — obedience  to  the 
divine  will.     Turning,  in  heaven-born  wrath  from  the 


f4  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

pernicious  and  impious  ecclesiastical  constitutions,  the 
traditions  of  men,  "after  the  rudiments  of  the  world," 
"which   were   making  the   commandments   of   God   of 
none    effect," — constitutions,    which    as    he    said,    "ab- 
solved in  adultery  and  condemned  in  meat,  that  allowed 
a  harlot  and   interdicted  a  wife," — and  that  were  so 
contrived  as  to  have  a  "show  of  wisdom  in  will-wor- 
ship, and  humility,  and  neglecting  of  the  body,"  petty 
inventions  fitted  to  lead  the  minds  of  the  vulgar,  the 
weak    and    the     worldly-wise,     captive, — turning    from 
these,     Calvin    taught    that    Jesus    is    King    in    Zion ; 
that  He  gives  the  spiritual  kingdom  a  complete  consti- 
tution in  accord  with  which  it  is  to  govern  itself;  that 
that  law,  once  given  to  the  church,  remains  forever  in 
force, — that    law   which   reads    "Whatsoever   thing    I 
command  you,  observe  to  do  it;  thou  shalt  not  add 
thereto  nor  diminish  therefrom" ;  that  the  Lord's  king- 
dom is  not  to  be  taken  away  from  Him,  which  is  done 
when  He  is  worshipped  with  laws  of  human  invention, 
as   when   the   church   teaches,   "for   doctrine,   the  com- 
mandments  of  men,"   or  binds  burdens  on  their  backs 
by  rule  not  of  Him ;  that  church  order,  indeed,  includes 
a  variable  element,  as  well  as  a  fixed,  the  variable  to 
be  determined  by  the  power  in  the  church  to  make 
regulations ;  but  that  in  regard  to  such  regulations  care 
must  be  taken  that  they  be  not  considered  necessary 
to   salvation,   and   so   imposing  a   religious   obligation 
on  the  conscience,  or  applied  to  the  worship  of  God, 
and  so  represented  as  essential  to  piety  that  this  power 
of   making   regulations    only   about   circumstances    so 
standing    around    enjoined    actions    that    the    divinely 
enjoined  actions  cannot  be  separated  from  them,  or  at 
least  cannot  be  separated  from  them  without  loss  of 
decorum  or  order, — that  this  power  is  limited  to  mak- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  75 

ing  such  regulations,  for  example,  as,  that  certain 
hours  shall  be  appointed  for  public  worship,  quietness 
and  silence  shall  be  observed  under  sermons,  days  shall 
be  fixed  for  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
decorum  observed  in  the  administration  of  it,  and  regu- 
lations for  the  preservation  of  discipline,  as  catechis- 
ing, ecclesiastical  censures,  fasting  and  everything  else 
that  can  be  referred  to  the  same  class, — regulations 
touching  ceremonies,  rites,  or  discipline  and  peace;  and 
that  in  making  of  these  the  church  must  conform  to 
the  general  rules  divinely  given.*  He  teaches  that 
these  regulations  are  to  be  regarded  for  the  sake  of 
order  and  decorum  and  not  for  God's  authority  in 
them.  He  thus  teaches  that  the  government  of  the 
church  is  to  be  by  divinely  given  constitution ;  that  it 
is  the  Lord's  kingdom  and  to  be  governed  by  His  law. 
As  is  implied  in  what  has  been  said,  Calvin  dis- 
tinguished sharply  between  civil  government  and  eccle- 
siastical government.  He  taught  that  the  church  has 
no  power  of  the  sword  to  punish  or  to  coerce,  no  au- 
thority to  compel,  no  prisons,  no  fines,  or  other  pun- 
ishments, like  those  inflicted  by  the  civil  magistrate ; 
that  the  object  of  ecclesiastical  power  is  not  that  he 
who  has  transgressed  may  be  punished  against  his 
will ;  but  that  he  may  profess  his  repentance  by  a  vol- 
untary submission  to  chastisement ;  that  the  difference 
between  church  and  state  is  very  great,  the  church  not 
assuming  to  itself  what  belongs  to  the  magistrate,  and 
the  magistrate  being  unable  to  execute  that  which  is 
executed  by  the  church.  This  particular  he  illustrates 
by  the  following  example:  "Ls  any  man  intoxicated? 
In  a  well  regulated  city  he  will  be  punished  by  im- 

*  Book  IV.,  Chapter  lo,  Sections  XXIX,  XXX,  XXXI, 


y(i  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

prisonment.  .  .  .  With  this  the  laws,  the  magistrate, 
and  the  civil  judgment  will  be  satisfied ;  though  it  mav 
happen  that  he  will  give  no  sign  of  repentance  but  will 
rather  murmur  and  repine  against  his  judgment.  Will 
the  church  stop  here?  Such  persons  cannot  be  admitted 
to  the  sacred  Supper  without  doing  an  injury  to  Christ 
and  His  holy  institution.  And  reason  requires  that 
he  who  has  offended  the  church  with  an  evil  example, 
should  remove  by  a  solemn  declaration  of  repentance 
the  offence  which  he  has  excited." 

But,  while  Calvin  distinguished  thus  clearly  and 
sharply  between  church  and  state,  holding  that  they 
were  independent  of  one  another,  each  in  its  domain, 
he  saw  no  propriety  in  their  separation.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  believed  that  every  civil  government  should 
profess  the  true  religion ;  that  it  should  "by  punish- 
ment and  corporeal  coercion,  purge  the  church  from 
offences;"  and  that  it  should  support  and  further  its 
good  work  as  the  first  object  of  its  own  existence. 

Here  was  a  mistake  of  Calvin's.  He  believed  that 
God  in  Christ  is  head  both  of  church  and  state;  that 
the  office  of  civil  government  extends  to  both  tables 
of  the  Decalogue.  This  was  a  conception  of  his  age, 
inherited  from  the  ages  back  to  Constantine  the  Great, 
which  he  was  not  able  to  shake  off.  But  the  logic  of 
the  position  is  persecution  by  the  state  for  that  which 
it  esteems  to  be  religious  heresy.  If  the  state  has  the 
right  to  profess  Christ  as  its  head  and  to  propagate 
His  religion,  then  it  has  the  right  to  protect  it  from 
heresy,  the  right  to  punish  heresy  with  the  forces  at 
its  command.  Duties  are  correlated  with  rights. 
Naturally  we  find  the  Geneva  state  punishing  with  fine, 
imprisonment,  banishment  or  death,  such  men  as 
Gruet,   Bolsec   and   Servetus.      God    has    given    to   no 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  yj 

Christian  state  such  a  right — the  right  of  corporeally 
"punishing  for  heretical  opinion." 

Calvin  and  his  age  were  wrong  in  holding  that  it 
was  a  concern  of  the  state  to  enforce  the  observance  of 
the  first  table  of  the  Decalogue ;  that  the  state  properly 
could  become  Christian  and  make  the  protection,  sup- 
port and  advancement  of  the  church  its  highest  aim ; 
and  that  in  the  outworking  of  this  aim  it  could  use 
physical  coercion. 

But  we  have  him  to  thank  for  distinguishing  be- 
tween the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  and  govern- 
ments so  clearly ;  and  showing  that  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment is  of  right  only  by  the  God-given  constitution. 
We  have  him  to  thank,  too,  for  the  emphasis  he  laid 
on  the  duty  of  the  church  to  govern  itself.  For  while 
he  believed  in  the  propriety  of  the  union  of  church  and 
state,  he  was  so  convinced  that  the  church  should  gov- 
ern itself  that  he  taught  that  it  should  do  this  at  the 
cost  of  self-support,  if  necessary.  That  is,  he  taught 
that  while  the  state  should  support  the  church,  and 
allow  the  church  to  govern  itself  in  accord  with  its 
divine  constitution,  yet,  if  it  will  not  give  this  support 
while  conceding  freedom,  then  the  church  should  fore- 
go state  support  that  it  may  govern  itself. 

The  first  main  feature,  then,  of  Calvin's  plan  of 
ecclesiastical  government  was  the  self  government  of 
the  church  under  the  headship  of  Christ.  In  this 
teaching  he  was  vastly  superior  to  the  earlier  reformers ; 
he  planted  seed  that  had  fruited  in  the  weakening  of 
the  connection  between  the  church  and  the  state 
throughout  all  reformed  Christendom ;  he  is  making 
to-day  for  the  separation  of  the  two  powers  in  what- 
soever quarters  his  influence  has  reached ;  he  is  de- 
veloping the  reformed  churches  by  the  process  of  self 


78  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

government ;  and  should  more  and  more  enthrone 
Christ  as  King  de  facto  as  he  is  King  de  jure,  in  the 
universal  church. 

The  second  main  feature  was  the  emphasis  laid  upon 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  the  ecclesiastical  discipline  of  all 
the  members  of  the  church  from  the  smallest  to  the 
greatest. 

Calvin  valued  discipline  as  second  only  to  teaching. 
The  effort  to  introduce  discipline  was  the  primary 
occasion  of  his  expulsion  from  Geneva  in  1538.  He 
was  hardly  settled  comfortably  in  the  church  of  the 
strangers  in  Strasburg  before  he  introduced  it  there. 
When  recalled  to  Geneva  in  1541,  he  proceeded  at 
once  to  the  work  of  establishing  it  firmly  there.  The 
importance  of  discipline  he  formally  sets  forth  as  fol- 
lows  (Book  IV.,  Chap.  XII.,  Section  2)  : 

"As  some  have  such  a  hatred  of  discipline  as  to 
abhor  the  very  name  they  should  attend  to  the  follow- 
ing consideration,  that  if  no  society  and  even  no  house, 
though  containing  only  a  small  family,  can  be  pre- 
served in  a  proper  state  without  discipline,  this  is  far 
more  necessary  in  the  church,  the  state  of  which  ought 
to  be  the  most  orderly  of  all.  As  the  saving  doctrine 
of  Christ  is  the  soul  of  the  church,  so  discipHne  forms 
the  ligaments  which  connects  the  members  together, 
and  keeps  each  in  its  proper  place.  Whoever,  there- 
fore, either  desire  the  abolition  of  all  discipline  or 
obstruct  its  restoration,  whether  they  act  from  design 
or  inadvertency,  they  certainly  promote  the  entire  dis- 
solution of  the  church.  For  what  will  be  the  conse- 
quence, if  every  man  be  at  liberty  to  follow  his  own 
inclinations?  But  such  would  be  the  case,  unless  the 
preaching  of  the  doctrine  were  accompanied  with  pri- 
vate admonitions,  reproofs,   and   other   means  to   en- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  79 

force  the  doctrine,  and  prevent  it  from  being-  altogether 
ineffectual.  Discipline,  therefore,  serves  as  a  bridle 
to  curb  and  to  restrain  the  refractory,  who  resist  the 
doctrine  of  Christ ;  or  as  a  spur  to  stimulate  the  inac- 
tive ;  and  sometimes  as  a  father's  rod,  with  which  those 
who  have  grievously  fallen  may  be  chastised  in  mercy, 
and  with  the  gentleness  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Now 
when  we  see  the  approach  of  certain  beginnings  of  a 
dreadful  dissolution  in  the  church,  since  there  is  no 
solicitude  or  means  to  keep  the  people  in  obedience  to 
our  Lord,  necessity  itself  proclaims  the  want  of  a  rem- 
edy ;  and  this  is  the  only  remedy  which  has  been  com- 
manded by  Christ,  or  which  has  ever  been  adopted 
among  believers." 

In  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  Christ,  Calvin 
made  three  degrees  of  discipline,  viz. :  private  admoni- 
tion, admonition  in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  or  before- 
the  church,  and  excommunication.  Private  admoni- 
tion is  to  be  employed  universally  when  occasion  de- 
mands, and  by  all.  But  pastors  and  presbyters,  beyond 
all  others  should  be  vigilant  in  the  discharge  of  this 
duty ;  being  called  by  their  office  not  only  to  preach  tO' 
the  congregation,  but  also  to  admonish  and  exhort  in 
private  houses,  if  in  any  instances  their  public  in- 
structions may  not  have  been  sufficiently  efficacious,  as 
Paul  inculcates,  when  he  says  that  he  taught  "publicly 
and  from  house  to  house"  and  protests  himself  to  be 
"free  from  the  blood  of  all  men"  having  "ceased  not 
to  warn  every  man  night  and  day  with  tears."  Ad- 
monition in  the  presence  of  witnesses  is  to  be  em- 
ployed against  public  offences  of  less  heinousness  and 
against  private  offences  of  an  inferior  sort  when  pri- 
vate admonition  fails.  Excommunication  is  to  be 
employed  only  "for  the  correcting  of  atrocious  crimes," 


8o  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

such  as  "adultery,  fornication,  theft,  robbery,  sedition, 
perjury,  false  witness,  and  other  similar  crimes,  to- 
gether with  obstinate  persons,  who  after  having  been 
admonished  even  of  smaller  faults,  contemn  God  and 
his  judgments." 

He  represents  the  ends  of  discipline  as :  First,  that 
those  who  lead  scandalous  and  flagitious  lives  may  not, 
to  the  dishonour  of  God,  be  numbered  among  Chris- 
tians .  .  .  for  as  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ, 
it  cannot  be  contaminated  with  such  foul  and  putrid 
members  without  some  ignominy  being  reflected  upon 
the  head."  The  second  is,  "that  the  good  may  not 
be  corrupted,  as  is  often  the  case,  by  constant  associa- 
tion with  the  wicked ;  for  such  is  our  propensity  to 
err,  that  nothing  is  more  easy  than  for  evil  example  to 
seduce  us  from  rectitude  of  conduct."  "A  little  leaven 
leaveneth  the  whole  lump."  The  third  end  is,  "that 
those  who  are  censured,  or  excommunicated,  con- 
founded with  the  shame  of  their  turpitude,  may  be  led 
to  repentance." 

On  no  point  does  Calvin  lay  more  emphasis  than 
that  discipline  should  be  administered  "with  a  spirit  of 
gentleness,"  "For  there  is,"  he  says,  "constant  need 
of  the  greatest  caution,  according  to  the  injunction  of 
Paul,  respecting  a  person  who  may  have  been  cen- 
sured," "lest  perhaps  such  an  one  should  be  swallowed 
up  with  over  much  sorrow ;  for  thus  a  remedy  would 
become  a  poison,  but  the  rule  of  moderation  may  be 
better  deduced  from  the  end  intended  to  be  accom- 
plished ;  for  as  the  design  of  excommunication  is  that 
the  sinner  may  be  brought  to  repentance,  and  evil  ex- 
amples taken  away,  to  prevent  the  name  of  Christ 
from  being  blasphemed  and  other  persons  tempted  to 
imitation ;  if  we  keep  these  things  in  view,  it  will  be 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  8i 

very  easy  to  judge  how  far  severity  ought  to  proceed 
and  where  it  ought  to  be  stopped." 

He  inculcates  earnestly  the  duty  of  trying  to  win 
to  a  holy  life  the  excommunicated.  He  made  it  the 
church's  duty  to  receive  into  communion  again,  upon 
his  repentance,  one  who  had  been  excommunicated ; 
and  this  also  although  the  repentance  were  after  a 
second  excommunication.  "Such,"  he  says,  "as  are  ex- 
pelled from  the  church  therefore,  it  is  not  for  us  to 
expunge  from  the  number  of  the  elect,  or  to  despair 
of  them  as  already  lost.  It  is  proper  to  consider  them 
as  strangers  to  the  church,  and  consequently  from 
Christ,  but  this  only  as  long  as  they  remain  in  a  state 
of  exclusion."  He  thought  that  the  Anathema,  or 
devotion  of  a  person  to  eternal  perdition,  ought  to  be 
very  rarely  or  never  resorted  to.*  It  was  a  principle 
of  his  that  correction  should  be  tempered  with  such 
moderation,  as  to  be  salutary  rather  than  injurious  to 
the  body. 

He  endeavored  to  make  the  discipline  of  the  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  more  severe  than  that  of  the  people. 
Against  the  Romish  church  he  vindicated,  indeed,  the 
minister's  right  to  marriage,  on  the  one  hand,  but  on 
the  other,  denied  his  right  to  exemption  from  the  civil 
courts,  and  taught  that  he  should  be  afflicted  with  the 
same  civil  penalties  as  laymen  for  misdemeanors.  And 
he  held  that  as  ensamples  to  the  flock  ministers  were 
under  special  obligations  to  live  an  approvable  life. 

He  proposed,  in  short,  to  realize  as  far  as  possible, 
the  ideal  of  the  church,  without  spot  or  wrinkle," — to 
glorify  God  by  the  dominion  of  His  word  in  the  life 
of  the  church — by  the  application  of  the  power  of  God, 

*  Book  IV..  Chapter  XII,  Section  X. 


82  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

as  well  as  the  truth  of  God ;  although  he  knew  that  the 
church,  while  on  earth,  is  mixed  with  good  and  bad, 
and  will  never  be  free  from  impurity." 

Touching  Calvin's  views  of  the  importance  of  dis- 
cipline, its  proper  ends,  and  the  spirit  with  which  it 
should  be  administered,  it  would  be  hard  to  speak  too 
praisefully.  They  have  done  not  a  little  to  develop 
the  peculiar  fibre  of  Calvinistic  character. 

Owing  to  the  unhappy  union  of  church  and  state 
in  which  he  and  all  his  age  believed,  he  was  not  en- 
tirely happy  in  locating  the  power  to  be  used  in  dis- 
cipline; but  this  brings  us  to  the  third  distinctive  fea- 
ture of  his  policy. 

That  this  pozver  for  discipline  and  for  all  the  func- 
tions of  government,  is  to  be  exercised  by  a  consistory, 
or  parliamentary  court,  consisting  of  elders  of  two 
classes,  viz.,  ruling  elders  and  elders  who  not  only  rule 
but  labor  in  word  and  doctrine. 

Calvin  teaches  that,  in  order  to  the  preservation 
of  the  spiritual  polity,  God  institutes  a  certain  order ; 
that  for  this  end,  there  were  from  the  beginning  judi- 
ciaries appointed  in  the  churches  to  take  cognizance  of 
matters,  to  pass  censures  on  vices,  and  to  preside  over 
the  use  of  the  keys  in  excommunication,"  that  "this 
order  Paul  designates  in  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, when  he  mentions  "government,"  and  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  when  he  says  "he  that  ruleth, 
let  him  do  it  with  diligence" ;  that  Paul  is  not  here 
"speaking  of  magistrates,  or  civil  governors,  for  there 
were  at  this  time  no  Christian  magistrates,  but  of 
those  who  were  associated  with  the  pastor  in  spiritual 
government  of  the  church ;  that  in  the  First  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  also,  he  mentions  two  kinds  of  presbyters, 
or  elders,  some  who  labor  in  the  word  and  doctrine," 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  83 

others  who  have  nothing  to  do  with  preaching  the 
word,  and  yet,  "rule  well" ;  that  "by  the  latter  class, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  intended  those  who  were 
appointed  to  the  cognizance  of  manners  and  the  whole 
exercise  of  the  keys ;"  for  that  this  power  of  govern- 
ment "entirely  depends  on  the  keys,  which  Christ  has 
conferred  upon  the  church  in  the  eighteenth  chapter 
of  Matthew,  where  He  commands  that  those  who  shall 
have  despised  private  admonition  shall  be  severely  ad- 
monished in  the  name  of  the  whole  church,  and  that 
if  they  persist  in  their  obstinacy,  they  are  to  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  society  of  believers.  He  argues  that 
since  the  admonitions  and  corrections  cannot  take 
place  without  an  examination  of  the  cause,  there  is 
necessity  of  some  judicature  and  order." 

Men  can  to-day  demonstrate,  and  more  compactly 
than  Calvin  did,  that  the  local  church  of  the  apostolic 
church  was  governed  by  a  parliamentary  court  of 
elders,  and  that  two  or  more  churches  united  under  a 
superior  presbytery.  But  it  was  Calvin's  part  to  open 
the  way  for  this,  and  that  way  he  opened. 

In  accord  with  these  views,  Calvin  established  con- 
sistorial  (or  presbyterial)  government  in  the  Genevan 
church.  The  Genevan  consistory  (or  presbytery,  as 
we  may  call  it)  embraced,  in  Calvin's  day,  five  pastors 
and  twelve  elders.  The  duty  of  this  body  was  to  over- 
watch,  and  to  apply  the  power  of  God  to,  every  mem- 
ber of  the  Genevese  church,  from  the  least  to  the 
greatest,  according  to  individual  need.  It  was  never  to 
assume  any  of  the  rights  of  the  civil  power.  In  cases 
of  discovered  crimes  against  the  state,  of  such  enor- 
mity as  to  make  corporal  punishment  necessary,  it 
was  simply  to  lay  the  circumstances  before  the  civil 
government,  "St  belonging  unto  God  to  determine  the 


84  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

powers  of  both."  The  severest  punishment  which 
could  be  inflicted  by  the  presbytery  was  excommuni- 
cation from  the  communion  of  the  faithful. 

The  civil  government  was  long  indisposed  to  con- 
cede the  right  of  excommunication  to  the  church  court ; 
and  there  were  numerous  appeals  from  the  church 
court  to  the  civil  government;  but  after  1555  the  church 
enjoyed,  without  opposition,  the  right  to  inflict  this 
penalty. 

Calvin's  presbytery  in  Geneva  was  not,  however,  in 
all  respects,  a  close  approximation  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment presbytery.  He  knew  very  clearly  the  Bible 
mode  of  inducting  man  into  ecclesiastical  office ;  and 
taught  that  the  apostles  ordained  men  to  office  in  the 
church  according  to  the  suffrages  of  the  members  of 
the  church  to  be  served  by  them.*  But  in  Geneva, 
owing  to  the  connection  of  church  and  state,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  presbytery  were  not  elected  in  the  Biblical 
way.  Of  the  twelve  ruling  elders,  two  were  taken 
from  the  Little  Council  of  the  State,  four  from  the 
Council  of  sixty,  and  six  from  that  of  the  two  hun- 
dred. They  were  chosen  to  their  ecclesiastical  func- 
tions by  the  Little  Council  of  the  State,  and  confirmed 
by  the  preachers. 

The  preachers  were  always  elected  first  by  the  body 
of  preachers  already  in  existence ;  their  election  was 
then  submitted  to  the  Little  Council  for  confirmation. 
In  case  the  congregation  had  anything  to  object,  it 
was  made  its  duty  to  state  its  objection  to  the  syndics 
that  all  might  be  satisfied  with  the  choice. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  state  had  much  to  do  with 
the   appointments   of   the   members   of  the   presbytery. 

*  Commentary  on  Matt.  i3:  47. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  85 

Under  the  circumstances  this  was  natural.  The  state 
had  adopted  the  church.  The  court  of  the  church  was, 
in  one  of  its  aspects,  the  state's  court  to  handle  its 
ecclesiastical  business,  and  the  state  was  exercising  its 
prerogatives  in  electing  these,  its  own,  officers.  Prac- 
tically, however,  this  mode  of  filling  ecclesiastical  of- 
fices was  an  infringement  on  the  autonomy  of  the 
church — a  principle  of  which  Calvin  made  much  in 
theory ;  and  it  was  out  of  harmony  with  Calvin's  own 
representation  of  the  mode  of  filling  offices  in  the  apos- 
tolic church.  For  he  teaches,  as  has  already  appeared, 
that  in  the  apostolic  church  the  apostles  ordained  those 
whom  the  whole  multitude  of  believers,  "according  to 
the  customs  observed  in  elections  among  the  Greeks, 
declared  by  the  elevation  of  their  hands  "to  be  the 
object  of  their  choice."  * 

The  moderator  of  the  Genevan  presbytery  was  a 
syndic,  an  executive  officer  of  the  state,  an  arrange- 
ment which  helped  to  express  and  to  further  the  union 
between  the  church  and  the  state. 

The  dependence  of  the  church  upon  the  state  for 
support  prevented  the  full  development  of  the  great 
beneficent  functions  of  the  church  court,  in  maturing 
and  supporting  plans  for  the  church's  expansion. 

A  sort  of  subsidiary  organ  of  ecclesiastical  rule  was 
the  Venerable  Company,  constituted  of  all  the  minis- 
ters of  the  city  and  district  of  Geneva.  It  took  the 
general  supervision  of  all  strictly  ecclesiastical  af- 
fairs, especially  of  the  education,  ordination,  and  in- 
stallation of  ministers  of  the  gospel ;  but  as  has  ap- 
peared, no  one  could  be  admitted  to  the  ministry  and 
installed  without  the  co-operation  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment and  the  assent  of  the  citizens. 

*  Book  IV.,  Chapter  III,  Section  XV. 


86  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

In  regard  to  this  presbyterial  feature  of  Calvin's 
polity,  it  must  be  said,  that  in  both  theory  and  prac- 
tice, he  gave  to  the  communicant  church  members,  too 
little  power  in  the  choice  of  their  rulers.  He  gave  too 
much  power  to  the  state. 

He  did  not  develop  all  the  several  functions  of  the 
church  court.  Had  he  gotten  rid  of  the  belief  in  the 
propriety  of  the  connection  of  church  and  state,  or 
had  he  been  forced  to  make  a  practical  separation  of 
the  church  from  the  state,  he  would  probably  have 
followed  the  Biblical  plan  in  bringing  into  being  the 
organ  for  the  government  of  the  church — the  presby- 
tery composed  of  representatives  of  God's  people 
chosen  by  the  people,  and  consisting  of  two  classes, 
elders  who  rule  only,  and  elders  who  also  labor  in 
word  and  doctrine. 

The  fourth  main  feature  of  Calvin's  polity  is  his 
restoration  of  the  bishop,  the  presbyter,  and  the  deacon, 
to  New  Testament  dimensions,  and  functions.  He  saw 
clearly,  with  the  reformers  generally  and  with  leading 
Catholic  and  Anglican  doctors,  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment bishop  is  the  New  Testament  elder,  and  that 
the  New  Testament  elder  is  the  New  Testament 
bishop ;  and  he  stripped  the  bishop  of  all  diocesan 
functions  and  made  him  an  elder  in  his  theory  of  him. 
He  also  saw  what  many  reformers  did  sot  see,  that  of 
the  bishops  or  elders  in  the  apostolic  age,  there  are  two 
classes, — elders  that  rule  only  and  elders  that  not  only 
rule  but  also  labor  in  word  and  doctrine. 

For  centuries  previous  to  Calvin's  day,  the  ruling 
elder  had  been  extinct.  Calvin  brought  him  back  into 
existence  and  vindicated,  as  has  appeared,  his  place 
in  the  presbytery.  He  also  showed  that  the  mediaeval 
deacon, — who  was  a  priest  in  the  tadpole  stage  of  his 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  87 

development, — was  not  a  Biblical  officer;  and  restored 
the  deaconate  of  the  New  Testament  church — the 
organ  of  the  communion  of  the  saints  in  things  tem- 
poral,— an  administrative  office  under  the  general  over- 
sight of  the  presbytery. 

In  this  constructive  work  of  Calvin — in  his  exhibi- 
tion of  the  church  as  of  right  self-governing  under  its 
head,  Christ;  in  his  exposition  of  its  right  to  govern 
in  accord  with  its  divinely  given  constitution,  all  the 
members  from  the  smallest  to  the  greatest ;  in  his  ex- 
position of  the  aims,  means  and  proper  spirit  of  dis- 
cipline; in  his  restoration  of  the  presbytery, — the  di- 
vinely appointed  organ  of  church  rule,  according 
to  the  New  Testament ;  in  his  reduction  of  ecclesias- 
tical offices  "to  their  New  Testament  character" — we 
have  a  contribution  to  church  polity  not  equalled  since 
the  days  of  Paul.  The  errors  in  his  system,  including 
union  of  church  and  state  and  the  incoherencies  in  his 
system  springing  from  this  error  about  the  proper  re- 
lation of  the  church  and  state,  were  to  be  expelled  from 
his  system  by  the  truth  in  it. 

To  occasional  successors,  such  as  James  Henley 
Thornwell,  it  has  been  given  to  deepen  and  broaden 
Calvin's  correct  ecclesiastical  teachings  in  certain  as- 
pects ;  but  for  the  most  part,  it  has  been  necessary  for 
them  to  walk  in  paths  blazed  by  Calvin,  unless  they 
would  abandon  God's  word  when  diverging  from  Cal- 
vin's track.  His  poineer  work  in  the  sphere  of  polity 
was  so  ably  done,  that  the  direction  has  been  fixed 
for  the  unbiased  student  of  God's  word. 

One  thing  more  should  be  said:  Though  Calvin 
had  done  work  of  such  value  in  the  sphere  of  polity, 
he  did  not  overrate  the  work  or  the  sphere.  He  be- 
lieved in  a  God-given  polity  as  in  a  God-given  doc- 


88  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

trine ;  but  he  did  not  regard  doctrine  and  polity  as  of 
equal  value.  He  recognized  as  a  church  of  God  every 
society  claiming  to  be  a  church,  which  held  the  essen- 
tial doctrines  taught  in  the  scriptures,  whether  the 
body  had  a  presbyterian  organization  or  not.  He  saw 
in  the  Lutheran  bodies,  with  or  without  bishops, 
churches  of  God,  and  in  the  Anglican  church,  with  its 
bishops,  a  true  church  of  Christ.  He  would  have  recog- 
nized our  Baptist  and  Methodist  churches  as  true 
churches  of  Christ,  notwithstanding  their  imperfect 
forms  of  polity. 

In  speaking  thus,  we  must  not  be  understood  to 
represent  Calvin  as  rating  church  polity  as  of  small 
value.  He  considered  it  necessary  for  the  well  being 
of  the  church,  though  not  to  the  bare  being  of  the 
church.  The  cart-horse  is  a  horse  ;  he  has  all  the  essen.- 
tial  marks  of  a  horse ;  but  the  Arabian  courser,  worth 
two,  three  or  four,  ten  thousands  of  dollars,  has,  we 
know,  other  marks,  not  essential  to  the  bare  being  of 
a  horse,  but  of  capital  value  nevertheless.  Calvin  be- 
lieved that  the  Arabian  courser  among  the  churches 
must  have  representative  government, — governmeni 
by  courts  of  presbyter  bishops. 

He  not  only  gave  to  polity  an  approximately  Bibli- 
cal form,  but  estimated  its  relative  value  Biblically. 

In  his  masterly  exhibition  and  deadly  criticisms  of 
the  mediaeval  Roman  Catholic  polity,  he  served  the 
church  well.  In  his  discovery  in  the  Bible,  and  deduc- 
tion therefrom,  of  the  principles  of  representative 
church  government,  he  made  practical  the  realization 
of  "The  noblest,  the  manliest,  the  equalist,  the  justest 
government  on  earth," — a  government  through  the 
best, — the  true  governmental  counterpart  to  the  most 
humbling  and  exhalting,  the  most  gracious  and  most 
ethical  theology,  ever  drawn  from  nature  or  revelation. 


CALVIN'S  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS 

AND  EXEGESIS  OF  THE 

SCRIPTURES. 


Dr.  James  Orr, 
Glasgoiv,  Scotland. 

Few  men  have  been  more  misunderstood  than  John 
Calvin.  His  name,  with  multitudes  to  the  present  hour, 
is  a  synonym  for  everything  hard,  gloomy,  and  repellent, 
in  religious  thought.  It  is  the  fate  of  a  great  personality 
to  call  forth  strong  antagonisms,  as  well  as  to  inspire 
intense  attachments.  Calvin  could  not  have  been  the  man 
he  was — massive  in  intellect,  uncompromising  in  prin- 
ciple, fixed  and  resolute  in  will — and  could  not  have  done 
the  work  he  did  in  Geneva  and  in  Europe,  without  evok- 
ing fiercest  opposition,  and  drawing  upon  himself  storms 
of  personal  hatred.  Yet  without  these  qualities  he  would 
not  have  sowered  above  his  fellows  as,  next  to  Luther,  if 
ever  next  to  him,  the  greatest  moral  force  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  or  have  achieved  the  unspeakable  service 
he  did  to  the  cause  of  Protestantism.  The  man  of  whom 
one  of  the  most  recent  and  ablest  liberal  theologians  of 
Germany,  P.  Werule,  writes :  "It  is  not  so  easy  to  be 
done  with  the  man  who  was  the  clearest,  acutest  theo- 
logian of  his  age  and  the  founder  of  the  power  of  Pro- 
testantism  in   Scotland,   France,    England   and   Holland. 

.  .  Rigorously  as  he  ruled  Geneva,  as  heroically  did 
he  lead  half  the  Protestantism  of  Europe  to  a  unity  of 
purpose,  the  power  of  which  nothing  could  break;"  of 


90  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

whom  Mark  Pattison  said:  "The  Protestant  movement 
was  saved  from  being  sunk  in  the  quicksand  of  doctrinal 
dispute  chiefly  by  the  new  moral  direction  given  to  it 
in  Geneva.  .  .  .  Calvinism  saved  Europe ;"  of  whom 
John  Morley  declares  that,  in  comparison  with  him,  the 
men  included  in  the  Positwist  "New  Calendar  of  Great 
Men"  are  "hardly  more  than  names  wet  in  water;"  of 
whom  Motley,  the  historian  testified:  "It  would  be 
ridiculous  to  deny  that  the  aggressive,  uncompromising, 
self-sacrificing,  intensely  believing,  perfectly  fearless 
spirit  of  Calvinism,  had  been  the  animating  soul,  the  mo- 
tive power,  of  the  great  revolt.  For  the  provinces  to  have 
encumbered  Spain  and  Rome  without  Calvinism,  and  re- 
lying on  municipal  enthusiasm  only,  would  have  been 
to  throw  away  the  sword,  and  fight  with  the  scabbard 
only."  Is  not  a  man  the  modern  world  can  afford  to  dis- 
pise. 

It  is  entrusted  to  others  to  show  how  Calvin  has 
been  misunderstood  in  his  personal  character  and  his 
theological  teachings.  One  can  afford  to  smile  at  the  pic- 
ture some  times  drawn  of  Calvinism  when  one  thinks  of 
Calvin's  own  Institutes,  and  recalls  how  one  finds  him 
there  entailing  the  paternal  tenderness  of  God,  recogniz- 
ing as  a  work  of  God's  Spirit  the  truth  and  wisdom  that 
shone  in  the  minds  of  heathen  says,  exalting  the  love  of 
God  in  giving  His  Son  for  the  reconciliation  of  the 
world,  and  setting  forth  in  glowing  language  the  ideals 
of  Christian  characters.  Calvin  went  deep,  indeed,  into 
the  spiritual  need  of  man  through  sin,  and  high  in  his 
attribution  of  everything  in  salvation  to  the  immediate 
grace  of  God;  looked  at  human  life  and  salvation  ever  in 
the  light  of  the  eternal  purpose  on  which  everything  that 
is  or  happens  rests  as  on  an  immovable  rock — for  what. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  91 

after  all,  is  Calvin's  doctrine  of  predestination  but  simply 
the  actual  process  of  salvation  viewed  sub  specie  oeferni- 
tatis;  refused  to  give  the  name  of  true  freedom  to  acts 
of  the  soul  enslaved  by  sin,  or  the  name  of  true  good- 
ness to  character  or  deeds  that  lacked  the  genuine  spring 
of  goodness.  But  it  was  because  his  theology  ploughed 
thus  into  the  depths  that  it  was  able  to  lay  so  strong  a 
foundation  for  individual  and  national  character ;  because 
it  soared  thus  into  the  heights  that  it  was  able  to  elevate 
and  strengthen  as  it  did  the  intellect  and  will  of  those 
who  accepted  it.  The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,  and  it 
may  well  be  asked,  with  Froude,  "how  it  came  to  pass  that 
if  Calvinism  is  indeed  the  hard  and  unreasonable  creed 
which  modern  enlightenment  declares  it  to  be,  it  has  pos- 
sessed such  singular  attractions  in  past  times  for  some  of 
the  greatest  men  that  ever  lived.  And  how — being,  as 
we  are  told,  fatal  to  morality,  because  it  denies  free  will — 
the  first  symptom  of  its  operation,  wherever  it  established 
itself,  was  to  obliterate  the  distinction  between  sins  and 
crimes,  and  to  make  the  moral  law  the  rule  of  life  for 
States  as  well  as  persons." 

My  immediate  object  is  Calvin  as  an  exegete  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  here,  whatever  debates  may  have  arisen  as  to 
Calvin's  merits  in  other  relations,  I  am  happy  in  having  al- 
lotted to  me  a  department  of  his  work  in  regard  to  which 
almost  unbroken  unanimity  reigns.  Calvin's  theology  may 
be  challanged,  his  character  and  work  may  be  adversely 
criticised,  but  a  chorus  of  testimony  from  well-nigh  every 
school  and  shade  of  opinion  in  Christendom  could  be  pro- 
duced to  the  remarkable  gifts  of  mind  and  heart  dis- 
played in  his  exposition  of  Scripture — to  his  breadth, 
moderation,  fairness,  and  modernness  of  spirit,  in  ex- 
hibiting the  sense  and  inward  genius  of  holy  writ.    Reuss, 


92  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

one  of  the  editors  of  his  works,  pronounces  him  "beyond 
all  question  the  greatest  exegete  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury ;"  and  Tholuck,  in  an  appreciation  regarded  as  classi- 
cal, extols  "his  simple,  elegant  style,  his  dogmatic  free- 
dom, the  fact  with  which  he  treats  his  subject,  his  multi- 
farious learning  and  profound  Christian  piety."  I  shall 
not  detain  yoii  by  quoting  opinions  of  others,  but  will 
rather  endeavor  to  show  from  the  works  themselves  how 
justly  Calvin  is  entitled  to  the  eulogies  passed  upon  him 
in  this  connection : 

One  testimony,  however,  I  think  I  should  not  omit, 
on  account  of  the  source  from  which  it  comes.  The 
theological  antithesis  to  Calvinism  is  Arminianism,  and  it 
is  interesting  to  hear  what  Arminius  himself  had  to  say 
of  Calvin  as  an  exegete.  Here  are  the  words  of  this 
certainly  unbiased  witness :  "Next  to  the  perusal  of  the 
Scriptures,"  he  says,  "I  exhort  my  pupils  to  peruse  Cal- 
vin's commentaries,  which  I  extol  in  loftier  terms  than 
Helmick  himself  [Helmick  was  a  Dutch  divine]  ;  for  I 
affirm  that  he  excels  beyond  comparison  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  Scripture,  and  that  his  commentaries  ought  to 
be  more  highly  valued  than  all  that  is  handed  down  to 
us  by  the  library  of  the  fathers ;  so  that  I  acknowledge 
him  to  those  possessed  above  most  others,  as  rather  above 
all  men,  what  may  be  called  an  eminent  gift  of  prophecy." 
Let  us  see  whether  this  judgment  is  not  merited, 
r'-  First,  with  respect  to  Calvin's  qualifications  for  the 
work  of  interpreter,  let  me  remind  you  that  he  was  a 
ripe  scholar.  His  early  education  at  leading  universities, 
of  chiefly  classical  and  legal,  was  very  thorough.  He 
had  a  splendid  command  of  Latin  and  of  his  own  tongue, 
French ;  and  at  Bourges,  in  addition  to  his  legal  studies, 
he  acquired  from  Wolmar  a  knowledge  of  Greek.     His 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  93 

knowledge  of  Hebrew,  acquired  •from  Grynoeus,  is  at- 
tested not  only  by  his  numerous  references  to  and  com- 
ments on  Hebrew  words,  but  by  the  fact  that  he  assisted 
his  kinsman  Olivetan  in  the  production  in  1535  (the  year 
before  he  went  to  Geneva)  of  a  French  translation  of 
the  Scriptures  from  the  Hebrew.  In  1540  there  appeared 
at  Geneva  in  Calvin's  own  name  a  translation  of  the 
whole  Bible  into  French.  Patristic  and  scholastic  learn- 
ing he  was  master  of.  Few  men  of  his  age,  if  any,  had  a 
nobler  equipment.  —^ 

What  was  even  more  important  than  learning  for  his 
task,  Calvin  had  a  deep  and  rich  Christian  experience. 
After  sore  spiritual  struggle,  he  had  been  brought  to  God, 
as  he  tells  us  in  the  preface  to  his  Commentary  on  the 
Psalms,  by  "a  sudden  conversion" ;  and  his  life  thereafter 
was  one  of  habitual  devotion  and  prayer,  and  earnest  en- 
deavor to  know  and  to  do  God's  will.  Werule,  before 
quoted,  writes  of  him :  "Does  anyone  desire  to  know  the 
man  as  he  lived  with  God  and  the  world,  let  him  read  the 
chapter  in  the  Institutes  on  'The  Life  of  the  Christian 
Man.'     That  is  the  portrait  of  himself." 

But  next,  one  observes  that  Calvin  of  set  purpose  \ 
made  the  Scriptures  from  the  first  his  constant  study, 
and  the  text-book  and  basis  of  his  work.  We  have  seen 
him  assisting  in  translating  the  Scriptures.  His  labors 
in  Geneva  began  with  expository  lectures  on  the  Epistles 
of  Paul  and  other  New  Testament  books,  and  exposition 
of  Scripture  was  a  principal  feature  of  his  work  all 
through.  His  mind  was  steeped  in  the  Word  of  God, 
not  as  a  dead  letter,  but  as  a  living  spirit.  His  Insti- 
tutes— a  work  wrought  in  glowing  heat  of  spirit  on  the 
anvil  of  an  intense  conviction  for  the  practical  purpose  of 
vindicating  his  persecuted  brethren  in  France — is  based 


94  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

on  sound  Scriptural  exegesis.  It  is  penetrated  with  the 
language,  the  spirit,  the  ideas  of  Scripture.  Calvin's 
treatment  is  as  far  as  may  be  from  a  dogmatic  handling 
of  texts.  Scripture  is  apprehended  in  the  organic  con- 
nection of  its  truths.  But  Calvin  has  no  use  for  anything 
in  theology  which  cannot  be  established  by  broad  and  fair 
appeal  to  the  written  Word.  This  was  the  reason  why 
for  a  time  he  shrank  from  using  the  terms  "Trinity" 
and  "Person"  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Godhead,  while  hold- 
ing the  truths  which  these  terms  denote. 

Approaching  nearer,  one  must  take  into  account,  and 
cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  by,  the  immense  range  of 
Calvin's  work  in  Scriptural  exposition.  It  is  not  the 
case,  indeed,  that  his  Commentaries  cover  the  whole  of 
Scripture.  They  do  not,  nor  were  they  produced  in  the 
order  of  the  books  of  Scripture.  He  began  with  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  in  1540,  while  at  Frankfort.  Then 
followed,  at  intervals,  the  remaining  Pauline  and  other 
Epistles  of  the  New  Testament.  Acts  belong  to  this 
period;  the  Gospels  are  later  the  only  book  of  the  New 
Testament  not  commented  on  is  Revelation,  which  Cal- 
vin frankly  declared  he  did  not  understand.  He  lectured, 
however,  on  Daniel,  which  was  nearly  as  difficult,  and 
possibly  felt  that  this  superseded  the  necessity  of  a 
second  work  of  the  kind  of  his  Old  Testament  commen- 
taries, the  earliest  were  those  on  Isaiah,  on  Genesis,  and 
on  Psalms.  The  remaining  books  of  the  Pentateuch  ap- 
pear in  the  form  of  a  "Harmony,"  as  also  do  the  first 
three  Gospels.  Calvin  here  shows  a  quite  modern  in- 
stinct in  separating  the  Synoptic  Gospels  from  John  for 
treatment  by  themselves.  The  principal  Commentaries 
appear  in  both  Latin  and  French  versions.  The  latest 
was  the  Commentary  on  Joshua,  published  shortly  before 


Calvin  Writing  His  Commentaries. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  95 

his  death.  A  good  many  books  of  the  Old  Testament  are 
left  untouched,  viz. :  Judges,  Ruth,  Samuel  and  Kings, 
Esther,  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and 
the  Song  of  Solomon. 

In  so  wide  a  field  of  achievement  it  would  be  unrea- 
sonable to  look  for  an  equal  level  of  excellence.  Some 
of  the  expositions,  as  on  Job,  the  Minor  Prophets,  Jere- 
miah, Daniel,  were  taken  down  from  Calvin's  extempore 
pulpit  discourses,  and  in  their  character  and  style  bear 
traces  of  this  popular  origin.  The  Commentaries  prepared 
by  Calvin  himself  are  works  of  great  thoroughness.  His 
chief  repute  rests  on  the  Commentaries  on  the  Pauline Z- 
Epistles  and  on  the  Psalms.  The  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles 
never  had  a  more  sympathetic  expounder,  and  the  Com- 
mentary on  the  Psalms,  with  its  wonderful  biographical 
Preface,  is  a  masterpiece,  into  which  Calvin's  whole  soul 
is  poured.  His  own  trials,  as  he  says,  helped  him  to  un- 
derstand David's.  He  calls  the  Psalms  "an  anatomy  of 
all  parts  of  the  soul,  for  no  one  will  discover  in  himself 
a  single  feeling,  whereof  the  image  is  not  reflected  in  this 
mirror."  Bishop  Horsley  speaks  of  Calvin  as  "a  man  of 
great  piety,  great  talents,  and  great  learning,"  yet  thinks 
that,  by  his  want  of  taste  and  poverty  of  imagination,  he 
was  "a  most  wretched  expositor  of  the  prophecies."  The 
modern  exegete  will  probably  much  prefer  Calvin's  so- 
briety to  the  worthy  bishop's  elegance.  Meanwhile,  it 
may  be  suggested  that  a  man  who  could  so  excellently  ex- 
pound the  Psalms  was  hardly  likely  to  be  wholly  unfitted 
to  expound  the  prophets. 

I  ought  perhaps  to  remark  at  this  point,  on  the  singu- 
lar testimony  which  Calvin's  Commentaries  afford  to  the 
ivide  range  and  potency  of  his  influence  in  the  highest 
circles.  The  Dedications  to  the  Commentaries  are  here 
instructive.     They  reveal  Calvin  as  a  European  power. 


96  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Already,  when  yet  unknown,  he  had  addressed  his 
Institutes  to  the  French  King,  Frances  L,  in  a  Preface 
which  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  finest  things  in  litera- 
ture. Now,  in  maturer  years,  he  dedicates  his  Com- 
mentary on  Isaiah,  and  again  that  on  the  Catholic  Epistles, 
to  the  youthful  Edward  VI.  of  England.  His  Commen- 
tary on  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  had  been  dedicated  to 
the  Duke  of  Somerset,  the  Protector  during  Edward's 
minority.  With  both  Somerset  and  Edward  he  had  cor- 
respondence, and  Cramner  was  in  regular  communication 
with  him.  His  Commentary  on  the  Hebrews  was  dedi- 
cated to  King  Sigismund  Augustus  of  Poland ;  the  first 
part  of  his  commentary  on  the  Acts,  to  Christian  I.  of 
Denmark,  and  the  second  part  to  the  son  of  that  monarch. 
His  Commentary  on  Hosea  was  dedicated  to  Gustavus 
Vasa  of  Sweden.  His  Commentary  on  the  last  four 
books  of  Moses  was  dedicated  to  Henry  IV.  of  France, 
then  a  boy,  with  noble  admonitions.  His  Harmony  of 
the  Gospels  was  dedicated  to  the  Council  of  Frankfort, 
which  received  it  with  thanks ;  and  so  with  nearly  all. 
The  language  in  these  Dedications  is  marked  by  a  dignity, 
courtesy,  and  elevation  of  tone,  an  absence  of  the  cus- 
tomary flattery  of  the  great,  and  a  seriousness  and  direct- 
ness of  purpose,  which  give  the  compositions  a  character 
all  their  own.  Calvin  wrote  as  one  who  sought  nothing 
for  himself,  and  knew  that  what  he  gave  was  not  un- 
worthy of  those  to  whom  he  gave  it.  His  words  were 
not  platitudes,  but  earnest  exhortations,  intended  to  pro- 
duce an  effect. 

I  pass  to  the  qualities  of  the  works  themselves,  which 
give  them  their  permanent  value  for  the  Church  and  for 
mankind.  Here,  naturally,  we  have  to  recognize  that, 
with  all  his  gifts,  and  depth  of  insight,  Calvin  was  yet  a 
man   of  his   own   age.     He   had  not   at   command  the 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  97 

elaborate  critical  apparatus  which  modern  scholars  re- 
joice in.  Textual  criticism  had  scarcely  commenced ;  the 
religions  and  civilizations  of  antiquity  were  known  only 
through  the  imperfect  accounts  of  classical  authors.  It 
was  a  time  when  the  modern  science  of  nature  was  yet 
unborn  (Calvin  was  ignorant,  e.  g.,  of  the  Copernican 
astronomy)  ;  when  "Higher  Criticism,"  with  its  marvelous 
feats  of  analysis,  disintegration,  and  reconstruction  of 
of  books,  history,  and  legislations,  was  still  undreamt  of ; 
when  the  wonders  disclosed  by  Egyptian,  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  exploration,  lay  yet  centuries  in  the  future, 
the  seals  of  the  book  of  modern  knowledge  were  yet  un- 
broken. What  is  to  be  said  for  Calvin  is  that  he  worked 
with  the  classical,  patristic,  philological  and  other  mate- 
rials he  did  possess — and  they  were  not  slight — as  faith- , 
fully  and  successfully  as  any  man  in  his  generation  could  '■ 
do ;  but  far  better,  that  his  exegetical  labors  were  mainly 
concerned  with  those  ideas  and  teachings  of  the  books  of 
Scripture  which  are  largely  unaffected  by  the  changes  in- 
troduced by  modern  knowledge  and  discovery, — which  be- 
long to  the  abiding  and  unalterable  side  of  the  message  of 
the  Bible.  This  is  a  lesson  which  our  modern  age  ha? 
perhaps  yet  to  learn.  For,  if  knowledge  grows  from  less 
to  more ;  if  theology,  too,  in  its  human  apprehension  of 
divine  truths,  necessarily  becomes  wider  in  its  processes 
and  outlook;  it  is  not  less  certain  that  the  foundation  of 
God  standeth,  and  that  the  great  truths  of  God's  char- 
acter, man's  nature,  sin's  ruin,  Christ's  Person  and  re- 
demption, the  Spirit's  work  in  renewal — those  truths 
which  are  the  living  substance,  the  very  warp  and  woof 
of  Bible  teaching, — remain  what  they  are  as  surely  as 
before  science  or  criticism  were  heard  of, — abide  as  truly 
as  do  the  great  constellations  in  the  mighty  sky  amidst 
the  changes  of  theoretical  astronomy. 


98  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

This,  specially,  is  Calvin's  greatness  as  an  expositor, 
that  it  is  ever  the  primary,  not  the  secondary,  matters  that 
interest  him — that  he  deals  with  the  eternal  in  Scripture, 
with  the  living  word  that  abideth.  How  small  a  thing, 
after  all,  the  ability  to  divide  up  a  verse  or  chapter  into 
its  supposed  critical  constituents,  or  to  throw  new  light 
on  a  historical  statement  or  prophetic  allusion  from  philo- 
logical knowledge  or  some  Babylonian  or  Assyrian  par- 
allel, compared  with  the  insight  that  penetrates  into  the 
very  heart  of  divine  revelation;  the  skill  which  expends 
itself  on  the  shape  and  chasings  of  the  vessel  which  con- 
tains the  water  of  life,  compared  with  the  hand  which 
ministers  the  living  water  itself ! 

With  these  inevitable  limitations  which  belong  to  his 
time,  it  is  now  to  be  remarked  that  Calvin  exhibits  many 
of  the  qualities  characteristic  of  the  best  modern  exegesis. 
The  principles  that  guided  him  are  laid  down  in  his  ad- 
mirable prefatory  "Epistle"  to  the  Commentary_.i)iiJtbe 
Roinans,  and  nothing  could  be  sounder.  He  agreed  with 
his  friend  Grynoeus  that  "the  principal  point  of  an  inter- 
preter is  a  perspicuous  brevity."  This,  he  says,  is  in  a 
manner  his  whole  charge,  "to  show  forth  the  mind  of  the 
writer  whom  he  has  taken  upon  him  to  expound."  All 
critics  give  him  credit  for  a  studious  endeavor  to  adhere 
to  the  historical  and  grammatical  meaning  of  the  text. 
His  mind  is  not  overburdened  by  his  learning  or  over- 
ridden— or  this  only  rarely — by  theological  prejudices. 
He  starts,  as  the  good  commentator  always  should,  from 
the  text  itself,  from  the  meaning  of  the  author  in  his  own 
place  and  time,  and  displays  an  acumen  and  sobriety  in 
his  judgments  as  refreshing  as  it  is  rare.  There  is  no 
padding  with  Calvin.  He  knows  what  he  has  to  do,  and 
sets  about  his  work  in  a  thoroughly  practical  and  business- 
like fashion.     His  feet  are  ever  on  the  ground,  however 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  99 

loftily  his  thoughts  may  soar.  "It  is  sacrilegious  bold- 
ness," he  says,  "to  use  the  Scriptures  at  our  pleasure, 
and  to  play  them  as  with  a  tennis-ball." 

The  result  in  Calvin  is  a  singular  ballance  and  moder- 
ation in  judgment,  and  a  note  of  modernness  in  his  work, 
which  impresses  one  the  more  the  more  closely  he  is 
studied.  He  refuses  what  he  thinks  a  weak  argument, 
even  to  support  a  sound  doctrine,  c.  g.,  he  will  not  allow 
the  Trinity  to  be  deduced  from  the  plural  name,  "Elohim." 
He  will  admit  Maccabean  psalms,  c.  g.,  Ps.  Ixxiv.  He 
interprets  Ps.  xlv.  of  the  marriage  of  Solomon,  though 
he  thinks  there  is  a  typical  reference  to  Christ.  His  pro- 
phetic interpretations  start  from  the  historical  situation. 
A  few  illustrations  will  set  these  characteristics  of  Cal- 
vin's work  more  clearly  before  the  mind  than  any  general 
statement  can  do. 

In  his  Commentaries  on  Genesis  and  on  the  last  four 
books  of  Moses  we  find,  of  course,  nothing  of  modern 
critical  learning.  We  hear  nothing  of  J,  E,  D,  and  P ; 
nothing  about  legends.  The  day  for  that  kind  of  wisdom 
had  not  yet  come.  Moses  is  unhesitatingly  assumed  to 
be  the  author.  There  is  not  even  a  suggestion  of  explana- 
tion of  the  fact,  which  one  might  suppose  would  have 
struck  him,  of  the  alternating  use  of  "Jehovah"  and 
"Elohim."  In  other  respects  his  comments  are  singularly 
opposite  and  correct.  In  his  "Argument"  to  Genesis  he 
excellently  shows  that  the  main  subject  of  the  book  is  not 
physical  matters,  but  the  purpose  of  redemption  in  Christ. 
In  speaking  of  the  creation  narrative,  how  true  a  note 
does  he  strike  in  insisting  that  the  language  used  is  popu- 
lar, and  that  scientific  exactitude  is  not  to  be  looked  for ! 
"He  who  would  learn  astronomy,  and  other  recondite 
arts,"  he  says,  "let  him  go  elsewhere."  "Moses  wrote  in 
a  popular  style  things  which,  without  instruction,  all  or- 


100  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

dinary  persons,  imbued  with  common  sense,  are  able  to 
understand.  .  .  .  Had  he  spoken  of  things  generally  un- 
known, the  uneducated  might  have  pleaded  in  excuse  that 
such  subjects  were  beyond  their  capacity.  ...  If  the 
astronomer  inquires  respecting  the  actual  dimensions  of 
the  stars,  he  will  find  the  moon  to  be  less  than  Saturn ; 
but  this  is  something  abstruse,  for  to  the  sight  it  appears 
differently.  .  .  .  He  does  not  call  us  up  into  heaven, 
he  only  proposes  things  that  lie  open  before  our  eyes." 
He  justly  denies  the  distinction  of  "image"  and  "likeness" 
in  man's  creation,  and  dwells  on  the  dignity  of  human 
nature  as  evinced  by  God's  counselling  with  Himself  re- 
garding him.  "Truly,"  he  says,  "there  are  many  things 
in  this  corrupted  nature  which  may  induce  contempt ; 
but  if  you  hightly  weigh  all  circumstance^,  man  is,  among 
other  creatures,  a  certian  pre-eminent  specimen  of  divine 
wisdom,  justice  and  goodness,  so  that  he  is  deservedly 
called  by  the  ancients  microcosm — a  world  in  miniature." 
Or  take  the  laws  of  Moses.  It  is  a  great  merit  of 
Calvin  that  he  perceives  so  clearly  the  relation  of  the 
ceremonial  and  political  laws  of  Moses  to  the  moral  law 
of  the  Ten  Commandments,  in  which  lay  the  real  basis 
of  the  nation's  covenant  with  God.  "It  is  not  a  little 
important,"  he  says,  "that  we  should  understand  that  the 
ceremonies  and  the  judicial  ordinances  neither  change  nor 
detract  from  the  rule  laid  down  m  the  Ten  Command- 
ments; but  are  only  helps,  which,  as  it  were  lead  us  by 
the  hand  to  the  due  worship  of  God,  and  to  the  promotion 
of  justice  towards  men."  "We  are  aware,"  he  adds,  "that 
of  old  there  was  a  constant  controversy  of  the  prophets 
against  the  Jewish  people,  because  whilst  strenuously 
devoting  themselves  to  ceremonies,  as  if  true  religion 
and  holiness  were  comprised  in  them,  they  neglected  real 
righteousness.    Therefore  God  protests  that  He  never  en- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  ioi 

joined  anything  with  respect  to  the  sacrifices;  and  He 
pronounces  all  external  rites  but  vain  and  trifling,  if 
the  very  least  value  be  assigned  to  them  apart  from  the 
Ten  Commandments.  Whence  we  more  certainly  arrive 
at  the  conclusion  to  which  I  have  adverted,  viz.,  that  they 
are  not,  to  speak  correctly,  of  the  substance  of  the  law, 
nor  avail  of  themselves  in  the  worship  of  God,  nor  are 
required  by  the  lawgiver  Himself  as  necessary,  or  even 
as  useful,  unless  they  sink  into  this  inferior  position." 
Calvin,  evidently,  had  no  difficulty  in  understanding  Jere- 
miah in  Ch.  vii.  22 :  "For  I  spake  not  unto  your  fathers," 
etc. 

As  Calvin's  views  on  the  Sabbath  are  sometimes  mis- 
represented, it  may  be  observed  that  in  his  comments  both 
on  Genesis  and  on  the  laws,  he  takes  the  Sabbath  to 
be  as  old  as  the  creation,  and  regards  it  as  continuing  to 
the  end  of  the  world.  It  was  probable  (in  the  French 
edition  he  thinks  certain  that  it  was  observed  by  the 
patriarchs,  but  "I  am  unwilling,"  he  says,  "to  make  this 
a  matter  of  contention." 

As  a  New  Testament  illustration,  I  take  his  Judiciaries 
remarks  on  the  difficult  (|uestion  of  Christ's  human 
knowledge.  He  discusses  this  in  commenting  on  Luke  ii. 
40:  "And  the  child  grew,  and  waxed  strong,  filled  with 
wisdom,  and  the  grace  of  God  was  upon  Him,"  and  v.  52 : 
"Jesus  advanced  in  wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor  with 
God  and  man."  "If  it  takes  nothing  from  His  glory," 
Calvin  says,  "that  He  was  altogether  'emptied'  (Phil.  ii. 
6),  neither  does  it  degrade  Him,  that  He  chose  not  only 
to  grow  in  body,  but  to  make  progress  in  mind" ;  and 
maintains  that  Christ's  humiliation  "no  doubt  includes, 
that  His  soul  was  subject  to  ignorance."  He  rejects  the 
view  of  timid  persons  that  this  progress  was  only  in 
appearance,  and  declares :   "We  are  not  at  liberty  to  sup- 


I02  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

pose,  that  knowledge  lay  concealed  in  Christ,  and  made 
its  appearance  in  Him  in  progress  of  time.  ...  If  we 
do  not  choose  to  deny,  that  Christ  was  made  a  real  man, 
we  ought  not  to  be  ashamed  to  acknowledge  that  He 
voluntarily  took  upon  Him  everything  that  is  inseparable 
from  human  nature."  He  guards  himself  from  the  in- 
ference that  ignorance  implies  sin.  "We  ascribe  to 
Christ,"  he  says,  "  no  other  ignorance  than  what  may  fall 
upon  a  man  who  is  pure  from  every  taint  of  sin." 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  rigor  with  which  Calvin 
insists  on  an  historical  interpretation  of  psalms  and  pro- 
phecies. Even  the  psalms,  as  the  2nd,  the  45th,  the  iioth, 
which  are  interpreted  typically  of  Christ,  are  held  in  their 
historical  meaning  to  apply  to  David  or  other  kings.  "To 
whom  is  that  voice  addressed?"  he  asks  on  Is.  xl.  3,  "Pre- 
pare ye  the  way  of  the  Lord."  "Is  it  to  believers?  No,  but 
to  Cyrus,  to  the  Persians,  and  to  the  Medes,  who  held 
that  people  in  captivity."  But  this  group  of  prophecies, 
he  thinks,  "ought  not  to  be  limited  to  the  captivity  in 
Babylon ;  for  they  have  a  very  extensive  meaning,  and 
include  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  in  which  chiefly  lies 
the  power  of  'comforting.'  "  The  story  of  Hosea's  wife, 
with  other  passages,  he  interprets  parabolically. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  Calvin  held  free  views  on  the 
inspiration  of  Scripture,  and  did  not  scruple  to  admit 
errors  and  discrepancies  in  the  sacred  text.  I  do  not 
think  this  is  a  correct  statement.  To  Calvin,  Scripture 
is  throughout  the  inspired  word  of  God,  and  seeming  dis- 
crepancies are,  as  a  rule,  treated  by  him  as  seeming  only, 
and  he  has  generally  some  sensible  remarks  to  offer  for 
their  reconciliation.  This  is  seen  in  his  comments  on 
the  laws  of  Moses,  or  in  his  treatment  of  the  discrepancies 
alleged  in  such  cases  as  the  census  of  Ouirinius,  the  cure 
of   Bartimeus,   and   the   narratives   of   the   ressurection. 


Calvtn  Memorial  Addresses  103 

Yet  he  does  not  overstrain,  and  acknowledges  difificnlty 
where  it  exists.  In  regard  to  the  genealogies  in  Matthew 
and  Luke,  he  gives  what  he  thinks  to  be  the  best  solu- 
tions, and  warns  those  who  desire  more  to  remember 
Paul's  injunction  to  avoid  disputing  about  geanealogies. 
Referring  to  the  mention  of  Jeremiah  instead  of 
Zechariah  in  the  quotation  in  Matt,  xxvii.  9,  he  says: 
"How  the  name  of  Jeremiah  crept  in,  I  do  not  know, 
nor  do  I  give  myself  much  trouble  to  inquire.  The  pas- 
sage itself  plainly  shows  that  the  name  of  Jeremiah  has 
been  put  down  by  mistake,  instead  of  Zechariah  (xi.  13)  ; 
for  in  Jeremiah  we  find  nothing  of  the  sort,  nor  anything 
that  even  approaches  to  it."  On  the  discrepancy  in 
Stephen's  speech.  Acts  vii.  16,  with  Genesis,  as  to  the 
purchase  of  a  burial-place,  he  suggests  that  Stephen  or 
Luke  drew  on  uncertain  tradition  rather  than  on  Moses, 
and  made  "a  mistake  in  the  name  of  Abraham."  With 
reference  to  New  Testament  divergencies  from  the  He- 
brew in  quotations  from  Ch.  Ixx.  he  remarks :  "We  know 
that,  in  such  a  matter,  the  Apostles  were  not  very  scru- 
pulous. In  the  thing  itself,  however,  there  is  but  little 
difference."  He  gives  considerable  latitude  to  the  for- 
mula, "that  it  might  be  fulfilled."  The  critical  acumen 
of  Calvin  is  seen  in  his  refusal  to  acknowledge  Paul  as 
the  author  of  Hebrews,  and  in  his  hesitation  about  2 
Peter. 

A  few  words  may  be  said  in  conclusion  on  Calvin's 
view  of  Holy  Scripture  as  a  whole,  as  growing  out  of 
his  insight  into  it,  and  experience  of  it.  The  subject  is 
discussed  in  several  chapters  of  the  first  book  of  his 
Institutes,  and  the  authority  of  Scripture  is  there  placed, 
as  rt  came  to  be  in  many  of  the  Reformed  creeds,  in  the 
inward  witness  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  incontestable  to  Calvin 
that,  to  the  spiritually  illuminated  mind,  the  Scriptures 


I04  Calvix  Memorial  Addresses 

bear  internal  evidence  of  their  divine  origin  and  authorit}-. 
''Scripture  bears  upon  the  face  of  it,"  he  says,  "as  clear 
evidence  of  its  truth,  as  white  and  black  do  of  their  color, 
sweet  and  bitter  of  their  taste."  Again,  "Scripture,  car- 
ry'mg  its  own  evidence  along  with  it,  deigns  not  to  sub- 
mit to  proofs  and  arguments,  but  owes  the  full  conviction 
with  which  we  ought  to  receive  it  to  the  testimony  of 
Spirit."  This  is  3trong  language.  In  explanation,  it 
should  be  said  that  it  is  not  to  be  understood  as  implying 
the  rejection  of  historical  evidences — Calvin  proceeds  to 
devote  a  chapter  to  these  under  the  name  of  "secondary 
helps" — or  as  suggestion  that  such  evidence  should  be 
made  light  of,  or  dispensed  with.  The  meaning  is  that 
the  ultimate  conviction  of  the  credit  of  God's  word  in 
the  Scripture  must  spring  from  that  experience  of  its 
truth  and  power  which  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  can  give. 
There  is  profound  truth  in  this,  and  it  is  well  it  is  so,  for 
some  of  the  historical  arguments  by  which  Calvin  sup- 
ports the  credibility  of  Scriptures  are  now  a  little  outworn. 
The  real  criticism  to  be  made  on  this  resting  of  the 
authority'  of  Scripture  exclusk'ely  on  the  internal  witness 
of  the  Spirit  is  that,  at  best,  it  can  apply  only  to  Scripture 
taken  as  a  w^hole,  or  in  its  general  teaching,  and  can 
hardly  be  employed  for  the  settlement  of  critical  and 
exegetical  questions,  or  the  determination  even  of  the 
canonicity  of  disputed  books — of  such  books,  c.  g.,  as 
Esther,  or  Ecclesiastes,  or  Song  of  Solomon ;  and  Calvin 
himself  does  not  so  employ  it.  He  brings  his  full  exe- 
getical power  to  bear  on  every  passage,  and  freely  uses 
what  critical  or  historical  aids  he  possesses  to  determine 
points  of  difficulty.  What  he  would  perhaps  say — ^what 
at  least  we  may  now  say  for  him — is,  that,  if  Scripture  be 
attested  by  the  subject-matter  of  its  teaching,  by  its 
inward  harmony,  light,  power,  and  holiness,  to  be,  or 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  105 

contain,  the  word  of  God,  we  may  then  Hsten  with  defer- 
ence to  the  further  claims  it  makes  of  itself  and  its 
authors,  which  extend  its  inspiration  to  the  whole  Book. 
In  practice  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Calvin  treated 
the  Bible  as  through  and. through  inspired — the  word  of 
God  in  all  its  parts.  His  own  words  in  his  exposition  of 
2  Tim.  iii.  16,  with  which  I  conclude,  are  decisive  on  that 
point.  "This  is  a  principle,"  he  says,  "which  distin- 
guishes our  religion  from  all  others,  that  we  know  that 
God  hath  spoken  to  us,  and  are  fully  convinced  that  the 
prophets  did  not  speak  at  their  own  suggestion,  but  that, 
being  organs  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  only  uttered  what 
they  have  been  commissioned  to  declare.  Whoever,  then, 
wishes  to  profit  in  the  Scriptures,  let  him,  first  of  all,  lay 
this  down  as  a  settled  point,  that  the  law  and  the  prophets 
are  not  a  doctirne  delivered  according  to  the  will  and 
pleasure  of  men,  but  dictated  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  .  .  . 
This  is  the  [purport  of]  the  first  clause,  that  we  owe 
to  the  Scripture  the  same  reverence  which  we  owe  to 
God,  because  it  has  proceeded  from  Him  alone,  and  has 
nothing  belonging  to  man  mixed  with  it."  Those  who 
seek  countenance  for  a  lowering  of  the  authority  of  Scrip- 
ture must  seek  it  else  where  than  in  John  Calvin. 


Rlv.  R.  a.  Webb.  D.  D., 
Louisville,  Ky. 


CALVIN'S  DOCTRINE  OF  INFANT 
SALVATION. 


Rev.  R.  a.  Webb,  D.  D.  LL.  D, 
Kentucky  Theological  Seminary. 

By  appointment  of  the  last  Assembly,  I  appear  with 
a  brief  in  defence  of  Calvin  against  the  charge  of  teach- 
ing the  actual  damnation  of  some  infants  who  die  in 
their  infancy. 

The  accusation  has  been  so  widely  and  industriously 
circulated  that  its  truthfulness,  with  many,  passes  as  a 
matter  of  course,  too  well  known  to  be  disputed,  too  ob- 
vious to  be  contradicted. 

While  Luther  was  essentially  a  "breaker,"  and 
Protestantism  is  an  everlasting  debtor  to  him  for  shiv- 
ering ecclesiastical  medievalism,  and  emancipating  the 
religious  mind ;  it  was  devolved  by  Providence  upon 
Calvin  to  indoctrinate  the  Reformation,  and  give  to  the 
movement  that  system  of  evangelical  truth — those  prin- 
ciples and  convictions — necessary  to  sustain  it  and  save 
it  from  final  collapse.  Protestantism  is  no  stronger  than 
Calvinism,  and  the  Reformation  will  last  no  longer  than 
Calvinism  endures. 

If,  therefore,  the  name  of  the  great  Genevan — the 
theologian  of  the  Reformation — can  be  cleansed  of  any 
aspersion,  by  what  rises  only  to  the  rank  of  a  plausible 
exculpation,  one  would  naturally  expect  a  grateful  Pro- 
testant world  to  accept  it  with  joy,  and  acclaim  it  with 
delight.    The  spirit  which  could  be  pleased  with  a  cloud 


io8  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

upon  his  great  and  serviceable  name  is  nothing  short  of 
inscrutible. 

It  is  sought  to  sustain  this  charge  against  Calvin 
in  two  ways.  It  is  held,  first,  that  certain  quotations 
from  his  (Writings  ^warrant  the  {charge  that  the  con- 
sciously and  avowedly  held  that  some  infants,  dying  in 
infancy,  are  finally  lost.  Then  it  is  held,  in  the  second 
place,  that  infant  damnation  is  a  logical  and  necessary 
implicate  of  his  theological  system. 

Now  Calvin  certainly  taught  the  doctrine  of  Predesti- 
nation, and  with  it  classified  all  mankind  as  elect  and 
reprobate.  From  such  a  conclusion  he  did  not  shrink, 
but  boldly  avowed  it  and  defended  it. 

It  is  also  indisputable  that  Calvin  held  that  Predesti- 
nation determined  destiny,  and  that  there  was  no  way 
by  which  any  person  could  escape  the  fate  fixed  for  him 
by  divine  decree. 

And  it  is  equally  certain  that  he  taught  that  Pre- 
destination was  eternal,  antedating  the  birth  of  every 
human  being;  and  consequently  that  all  infants  make 
their  advent  into  the  world,  either  as  elect  infants  or 
as  non-elect  infants.  From  such  a  conclusion  neither 
he  nor  his  disciples  recoil. 

We  are  compelled  then  to  consider  his  views,  first 
as  to  elect  infants,  and  then  as  to  non-elect  infants. 

Elect   Infants. 

Concerning  elect  infants,  dying  in  infancy,  it  is  un- 
deniable that  Calvin  taught  two  things :  ( i )  the  fact  of 
their  salvation,  and   (2)  the  mode  of  their  salvation. 

As  to  the  fact  of  their  salvation  we  have  this  ex- 
plicit assertion  in  his  own  language : 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  109 

"Now,  it  is  certain  that  some  infants  are  saved;  and 
that  they  are  previously  regenerated  by  the  Lord  is  be- 
yond all  doubt." — Institutes,  Book  IV.,  Chap.  XVI., 
Sec.  17. 

There  are  other  supplementary  quotations  which 
could  be  made  just  as  explicit  upon  this  point;  but  this 
is  categorical  enough  to  satisfy  any  fair  mind,  and  there 
is  nothing  in  his  writings  which  any  one  adduces  in  sup- 
port of  the  contention  that  Calvin  taught  the  damnation 
of  any  elect  infant.  Indeed  no  one  has  the  hardihood 
to  bring  such  an  accusation  against  him. 

But  Calvin  not  only  taught  the  fact  of  the  salvation 
of  all  elect  infants ;  he  also  showed  the  mode  in  which 
they  are  saved;  and  thus  differentiated  himself  from  the 
theology  of  his  day,  and  laid  down  immortal  principles 
for  all  Protestant  theology.     He  says : 

"But,  however  this  may  be,  we  consider  it  as  clear, 
beyond  all  controversy,  that  not  one  of  the  elect  is 
called  out  of  the  present  life,  without  having  been  pre- 
viously regenerated  and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 
.  .  .  We  deny  that  it  ought  to  be  concluded  from  this 
(that  the  word  is  in  the  instrument  of  conversion),  that 
infants  cannot  be  regenerated  by  the  power  of  God, 
which  it  is  as  easy  to  him  as  it  is  wonderful  and  mys- 
terious to  us.  Besides,  it  would  not  be  safe  to  afifirm, 
that  the  Lord  cannot  reveal  Himself  in  any  way  so  as 
to  make  himself  known  to  them." — Institutes,  Book  IV., 
Chap.  XVI.,  Sec.  18. 

"If  any  of  those  who  are  the  objects  of  divine  elec- 
tion, after  having  received  the  sign  of  regeneration,  de- 
part out  of  this  life  before  they  have  attained  years  of 
discretion,  the  Lord  renevates  them  by  the  power  of  His 
Spirit,  incomprehensible  to  us,  in  such  a  manner  as  He 


no  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

alone  foresees  will  be  necessary." — Institutes,  Book  IV., 
Chapter  XVI.,  Sec.  21. 

In  these  quotations,  and  in  other  places,  he  distinctly 
rejects  the  Pelagian  view,  which,  denying  original  sin, 
grounded  the  salvation  of  dead  children  in  their  sup- 
posed innocency  and  sinlessness;  and  he  also  rejects  the 
prevailing  Romish  view  which  grounded  it  in  the  bap- 
tism of  such  as  had  received  that  ordinance. 

As  against  both  Pelagians  and  Romanists,  Calvin 
predicated  infant  salvation  upon  their  election  by  the 
Father,  their  redemption  by  the  Son,  and  their  regenera- 
tion and  sanctification  of  the  Spirit.  Such  a  program 
made  the  salvation  of  the  infant,  as  an  infant,  possible. 
Calvin  is  entitled  to  the  praise  of  having  shown  this 
originally  and  clearly. 

Non-Elect  Infants. 

While  it  is  thus  indisputably  true  that  Calvin  did 
thus  avow  and  explain  the  salvation  of  all  elect  infants, 
dying  in  infancy,  what  did  he  hold  concerning  the  fate 
of  non-elect  infants?  Did  he  hold  that  there  were  any 
such  infants?  Did  he  hold  that  any  such  infants  die 
in  infancy?  Did  he  hold  that  any  such  infants  are 
finally  damned?  These  are  the  questions  over  which 
there  is  debate  and  controversy. 

Concerning  the  first  of  these  questions,  Calvin  cer- 
tainly held  that  there  were  reprobate  infants,  for  he  dis- 
tinctly taught  that  reprobation  was  eternal  and  antenatal, 
and  consequently  that  all  reprobate  persons  make  their 
advent  into  this  life  as  reprobate. 

He  certainly  taught  that  all  reprobate  persons  are 
finally  lost.  But  he  did  not  teach  that  any  reprobate 
persons  are  lost  as  infants.     He  did  not  teach  that  any 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  m 

reprobate  persons  die  in  infancy.  He  did  explicitly  teach 
that  some  elect  infants  die  in  infancy  and  are  saved 
as  infants;  but  he  did  not  teach  that  any  reprobate  in- 
fants die  in  infancy  and  are  damned  as  infants. 

But  his  accusers  charge  that  this  is  precisely  what 
he  did  teach,  namely,  that  some  reprobate  infants  die  in 
infancy  and  are  damned  as  infants.  To  prove  this  ac- 
cusation they  undertake  to  quote  his  language,  and  then 
to  support  the  quotations  by  showing  that  the  doctrine  is 
a  logical  implicate  of  his  system  of  theology. 

I  shall  undertake  to  show  that  neither  the  quotations, 
nor  the  system,  warrant  this  accusation  of  the  most 
illustrious  genius  Protestantism  has  ever  produced. 

Concerning  non-elect  infants.  To  appreciate  Cal- 
vin's position  a  distinction  must  be  drawn  between  con- 
demnation and  damnation. 

Condemnation  is  the  pronouncement  of  sentence ; 
damnation  is  the  execution  of  that  sentence.  It  is  the 
office  of  the  judge  to  condemn — to  pronounce  the  crimi- 
nal worthy  of  death ;  it  is  the  office  of  the  sheriff  to 
carry  that  sentence  into  execution — to  inflict  the  penalty 
assessed  by  the  court.  A  longer  or  shorter  time  may 
intervene  between  the  imposition  of  the  sentence  and  the 
execution  of  the  same. 

Now  Calvin  taught,  unmistakably,  that  a  judgment 
of  condemnation,  predicated  upon  their  original  sin,  was 
passed  upon  all  non-elect  infants ;  but  he  does  not  teach 
that  that  sentence  was  executed  upon  any  non-elect  in- 
fant while  in  its  infancy,  during  the  period  of  its  moral 
minority. 

They  are  condemned  when  infants ;  they  are  executed 
only  as  adults.  They  are  condemned  on  account  of  origi- 
nal, or  Adamic,  sin ;  they  actually  perish  only  on  account 
of  actual,  or  personal,  sin. 


112  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

This  is  the  distinction  which  many  of  his  critics  over- 
look. They  hear  him  say  that  this  class  of  infants  are 
guilty,  depraved,  condemned,  and  reprobate ;  and  then, 
unwarrantably,  leap  to  the  conclusion  that  he  must  have 
held  that  the  judgment  of  death  is  executed  upon  some 
non-elect  infants  while  infants. 

Calvin  teaches  infant  condemnation,  but  he  nowhere 
teaches  infant  damnation. 

He  asserts  that  all  persons  who  are  not  the  subjects 
of  God's  saving  grace  will  finally  be  lost,  but  he  ex- 
plicitly, and  throughout,  teaches  that  all  the  reprobate 
"procure" — (that  is  his  own  word) — "procure"  their 
own  destruction ;  and  they  procure  their  destruction  by 
their  own  personal  and  conscious  acts  of  "impiety," 
"wickedness,"  and  "rebellion." 

Now  reprobate  infants,  though  guilty  of  original  sin 
and  under  condemnation,  cannot,  while  they  are  infants, 
thus  "procure"  their  own  destruction  by  their  personal 
acts  of  impiety,  wickedness,  and  rebellion.  They  must, 
therefore,  live  to  the  years  of  moral  responsibility  in  or- 
der to  perpetrate  the  acts  of  impiety,  wickedness  and  re- 
bellion, which  Calvin  defines  as  the  mode  through  which 
they  procure  their  destruction. 

While,  therefore,  Calvin  teaches  that  there  are  repro- 
bate infants,  and  that  these  will  be  finally  lost,  he  no- 
where teaches  that  they  will  be  lost  as  infants,  and  zvhile 
they  are  infants;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  declares  that 
all  the  reprobate  "procure"  their  own  destruction  by 
personal  acts  of  impiety,  wickedness  and  rebellion.  Con- 
sequently, his  own  reasoning  compels  him  to  hold  (to  be 
consistent  with  himself),  that  no  reprobate  child  can  die 
in  its  infancy ;  but  all  such  must  live  to  the  age  of  moral 
accountability,  and  translate  original  sin  into  actual  sin. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  113 

Calvin's  critics  seek  to  fasten  the  charge  of  infant 
damnation  upon  him  in  two  ways  :  ( i )  By  quoting  cer- 
tain detached  sentences  from  his  writings,  and  (2)  and 
chiefly,  by  charging  that  it  is  a  logical  implicate  of  his 
theology. 

Quotations, 

Concerning  all  these  citations,  I  make  the  following 
general  remarks : 

( 1 )  They  are  relatively  few  in  number ;  too  few  to 
justify  the  conclusion  that  Calvin  consciously  avowed 
the  dogma  of  infant  damnation.  Calvin's  writings  num- 
ber more  than  fifty  volumes,  some  of  them  dogmatic, 
some  exegetical,  some  controversial,  some  epistolary. 
His  critics  have  searched  his  multitudinous  pages  for 
language  which  could  be  quoted  in  proof  of  the  charge 
that  he  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  damnation  of  infants. 
With  all  their  diligence  and  zeal  they  have  been  able  to 
point  out  less  than  a  dozen  sentences,  or  parts  of  sen- 
tences, in  the  thousands  of  pages  which  he  wrote,  which 
even  seem  to  support  their  charge. 

(2)  They  were  all  passing  utterances;  mere  obiter 
dicta;  made  while  addressing  himself  to  other  topics; 
not  one  of  them  was  written  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
vealing his  mind  on  the  dogma  of  infant  damnation.  It 
is  therefore  unfair  and  illegitimate  to  hold  him  to  a  con- 
struction of  language  which  he  employed  in  the  develop- 
ment of  other  subjects,  and  wrote  when  the  fate  of  in- 
fants was  not  present  to  his  mind. 

(3)  All  these  citations  have  a  context;  and  when  they 
are  taken  in  connection  with  their  immediate  contexts. 


114  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

and  also  in  connection  with  the  whole  system  of  truth 
which  he  was  inculcating,  they  are  susceptible  of  a  dif- 
ferent interpretation  from  that  which  his  opponents'  put 
upon  them. 

When,  therefore,  we  consider  the  relative  fewness  of 
these  quotations,  their  purpose,  occasion  and  contexts, 
it  is  clearly  improper  to  hold  Calvin  responsible  for  the 
construction  which  his  critics  force  upon  them. 

To  test  the  charge  that  the  doctrine  of  the  damna- 
tion of  infants,  as  infants,  is  inferable  from  the  language 
which  Calvin  employed,  I  select  a  few  of  the  most  pro- 
nounced and  oft-quoted  passages  for  examination. 

The  first  of  these  passages  is  taken  from  his  Insti- 
tutes, Book  II,  Chap.  I.,  Sec.  7,  as  follows: 

"And  therefore  infants  themselves,  as  they  bring  their 
condemnation  into  the  world  with  them,  are  rendered 
obnoxious  to  punishment  by  their  own  sinfulness,  not 
by  the  sinfulness  of  another.  For  though  they  have 
not  yet  produced  the  fruits  of  their  iniquity,  yet  they 
have  the  seed  of  it  within  them ;  even  their  whole  nature 
is  as  it  were  a  seed  of  sin,  and  therefore  cannot  but 
be  odious  and  abominable  to  God.  Whence  it  follows, 
that  is  properly  accounted  sin  in  the  sight  of  God,  be- 
cause there  could  be  no  guilt  without  crime." 

The  subjects  of  these  predications  are  not  some  in- 
fants, but  all  infants,  elect  and  reprobate  alike  and  co- 
equally.  All  mankind  having  sinned  in  Adam  and  fell 
with  him  in  the  first  transgression,  all  infants  "bring 
their  condemnation  into  the  world  with  them,"  "are  ren- 
dered obnoxious  to  punishment  by  their  own  sinfulness," 
and  "their  whole  nature  is  a  seed  of  sin."  This  is  but 
the  assertion  of  the  well  known  doctrine  of  original  sin — 
the  doctrine  of  the  universal  guilt  and  native  depravity 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  115 

of  the  entire  race.  It  is  but  saying  of  all  infants  what 
David  specifically  said  of  himself.  But  surely  the  predi- 
cation of  the  guilt  and  corruption  of  the  entire  race  is 
not  synonymous  with  the  actual  damnation  of  the  entire 
human  family,  for  he  has  asserted  over  and  over  again 
the  salvation  of  some  of  the  race.  It  is  a  non  sequitur 
to  reason  from  the  universal  condemnation  of  mankind 
to  the  actual  damnation  of  some  infants.  Calvin  does 
say,  with  Paul,  that  all  are  "by  nature  the  children  of 
wrath" — that  all  are  guilty  and  corrupt  and  obnoxious 
to  God — but  he  does  not  here  say  that  any  reprobate 
child  dies  in  this  state  of  condemnation  and  perishes  as 
an  infant  in  hell  before  the  "seed"  that  is  within  him 
"produces  the  fruits  of  iniquity" — conscious  actual  sins. 

A  second  favorite  quotation  of  his  accusers  is  made 
from  his  Institutes,  Book  IV.,  Chap.  XVI.,  Sec.  17: 

"It  is  certain  that  some  infants  are  saved." 

It  is  argued  herefrom  that  if  Calvin  so  explicitly  said 
that  "some  infants  are  saved,"  he  must  have  intended 
to  indicate  that  some  other  infants  are  not  saved.  An 
affirmation  about  some  is  held  to  be  equal  to  an  antitheti- 
cal denial  about  others. 

In  the  place  quoted,  Calvin  is  arguing  for  the  rite 
of  infant  baptism.  He  is  replying  to  the  objection  that 
the  ordinance  ought  not  to  be  administered  to  babies  be- 
cause they  cannot  understand  its  import.  He  says :  It  is 
perfectly  certain  and  undeniable  that  some  infants  are 
regenerated;  neither  we  nor  they  understand  how  they 
are  regenerated ;  but  our  ignorance  of  the  modus  operandi 
does  not  obliterate  the  fact;  and,  consequently,  if  they 
can  be  regenerated  without  their  understanding  the  pro- 
cess, it  would  be  legitimate  to  give  them  the  baptismal 
sign  of  their  regeneration,  although  they  are  unable  to 


ii6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

understand  and  appreciate  the  ordinance.  The  whole 
context  renders  it  perfectly  certain  that  Calvin  was  not 
here  saying  that  some  infants  are  saved  in  order  to 
imply  that  some  are  not. 

Then  Calvin's  accusers  bring  forward  his  comment 
upon  Ezek.  xviii. :  "As  to  infants  they  seem  to  perish  not 
by  their  own  fault  but  by  the  fault  of  another ;  but  there 
is  a  double  solution.  Though  sin  does  not  yet  appear  in 
them,  yet  it  is  latent ;  for  they  bear  corruption  shut  up 
in  the  soul,  so  that  before  God  they  are  damnable." 
And  to  this  they  add  a  comment  of  like  import  upon 
Isa.  xiv.  21 :  "When  the  Lord  rejects  the  godless  man 
with  his  offspring,  there  is  certainly  no  expostulation 
which  we  can  make  with  God.  .  .  .  This  therefore 
is  to  be  held  for  certain,  that  all  who  are  destitute  of  the 
grace  of  God  are  included  under  the  sentence  of  eternal 
death ;  whence  it  follows  that  the  children  of  the  repro- 
bate, whom  the  curse  of  God  follows,  are  subject  to  the 
same  sentence." 

There  is  a  distinction  perfectly  obvious  between 
damnability  and  damnation.  One  is  a  liability  and  the 
other  is  an  actual  execution.  Calvin  does  say  in  these 
comments  that  all  infants,  elect  and  reprobate,  are  justly 
"damnable,"  not  only  because  of  their  Adamic  connec- 
tion, but  also  because  sin  is  "latent"  in  them,  because  of 
"the  corruption  shut  up  in  the  soul."  But  he  does  not 
say  that  any  child,  as  a  child  and  while  a  child,  is  ac- 
tually damned  before  what  is  "latent"  becomes  mani- 
fest. Such  an  inference  is  a  clear  reading  into  his  words 
what  he  did  not  say,  and  forcing  his  language  to  yield 
a  meaning  which  he  did  not  put  into  it. 

It  is  literally  and  evangelically  true  that  "all  who  are 
destitute  of  the  grace  of  God  are  included  under  the 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  117 

sentence  of  eternal  death;"'  and  it  is  likewise  true  that 
"the  children  of  the  reprobate,"  who  are  also  destitute 
of  grace,  are  subject  to  the  "same  sentence"  of  eternal 
death,  iiut  surely  there  is  a  distinction  between  the 
pronouncement  of  a  sentence  and  the  execution  of  that 
sentence;  and  Calvin  does  not  here  say,  directly  or  by 
good  and  necessary  consequence,  that  this  sentence  of 
eternal  death  is  executed  upon  reprobate  children  while 
they  are  children.  We  need  to  be  carrying  this  distinc- 
tion with  us  all  the  while  when  reading  the  great  Re- 
former— the  distinction  between  the  pronouncement  of  a 
sentence  and  the  execution  of  that  sentence.  That  sen- 
tence is  pronounced  upon  all  indiscriminately ;  it  certainly 
is  not,  Calvin  being  the  expositor,  executed  upon  all 
universally  and  indiscriminately. 

Another  favorite  passage  which  Calvin's  accusers 
quote  with  great  confidence  is  the  famous  one  which  he 
uttered  in  his  controversy  with  Pighius:  "If  Pighius 
holds  that  original  sin  is  not  sufficient  to  damn  men,  and 
that  the  secret  counsel  of  God  is  not  to  be  admitted, 
what  will  he  do  with  children  and  infants,  who,  before 
they  have  reached  an  age  at  which  they  can  give  any 
such  specimens  (of  good  and  evil  deeds)  are  snatched 
from  this  life?  When  the  conditions  of  birth  and  death 
were  alike  to  those  who  die  in  Sodom  and  Jerusalem, 
and  there  was  no  dift'erence  in  their  works,  why  will 
Christ,  at  the  last  day,  with  some  standing  at  his  right 
hand,  separate  others  at  his  left?  Who  will  not  adore 
the  wonderful  decision  of  God  whereby  it  comes  to  pass 
that  some  are  born  at  Jerusalem,  whence  soon  they  pass 
to  a  better  life,  while  Sodom,  the  entrance  to  the  lower 
region,  receives  others  at  their  birth.  Moreover,  I  by 
no  means  deny  that  Christ  awards  the  meed  of  righteous- 


ii8  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

ness  to  the  elect,  so  the  reprobate  will  then  suffer  for 
their  impiety  and  crimes," — De  Acterna  Dei  Predestina- 
tione.  Tom  VIII. 

This  passage  gives  me  more  trouble  than  any  which 
I  have  encountered.  Pighius  has  denied  that  original 
sin,  by  itself,  is  sufficient  to  damn  any  man.  Calvin  as- 
serts against  his  opponent  that  original  sin  is  intrinsi- 
cally so  heinous  as  to  be,  by  itself,  a  just  ground  of 
damnation.  To  make  good  his  contention  he  points  to 
children  and  infants  who  are  snatched  away  from  this 
life  before  they  come  to  the  years  of  moral  responsi- 
bility. Some  of  these  dead  children,  he  seems  to  say, 
will,  at  the  last  day,  stand  on  the  right  hand  of  Christ 
and  some  on  his  left.  Some  of  them,  he  seems  to  say, 
will  go  from  Jerusalem  to  a  better  life,  and  some  from 
Sodom  to  the  regions  below.  This  is  the  interpretation 
which  his  critics  put  upon  his  language. 

But  let  us  remember  that  Calvin  is  in  controversy 
with  Pighius  over  a  very  serious  matter — whether  origi- 
nal sin  is  sin  in  a  strict  and  proper  sense,  or  only  mis- 
fortune and  moral  blemish.  His  contention  is  that  origi- 
nal sin  is  so  heinous  as  to  be  intrinsically  worthy  of 
damnation.  This  is  his  point — the  sufficiency  of  original 
sin,  unsupplemented  by  actual  sin,  to  damn  men.  He 
will  not  tolerate  the  doctrine  that  original  sin  is  a  trifling, 
blameless  blemish.  The  proof  of  its  malignity  is  that 
children  die  in  Jerusalem  as  well  as  in  Sodom.  Now 
he  adds,  that,  while  I  hold  that  original  sin  in  sufficient 
to  damn  men,  I  by  no  means  deny  that  it  is  Christ  who 
bestows  righteousness  upon  the  elect,  while  the  reprobate 
"suffer  for  their  impiety  and  crimes."  But  infants  can- 
not be  guilty  of  impiety  and  crimes,  while  they  are  in- 
fants ;  and  yet  the  reprobate  suffer  for  their  impiety  and 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  119 

crimes;  so  we  must  conclude  that  Calvin  did  not  here 
mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  reprobate  infants  stand  on 
the  left  of  Christ  as  infants,  or  that  they  go  down  to 
death  through  the  gates  of  Sodom  while  they  are  still 
in  the  irresponsible  infant  stage  of  life.  In  short,  to  make 
him  teach  infant  damnation  in  this  place  is  to  make  him 
clearly  inconsistent  with  himself.  It  would  be  fairer  to 
construe  the  language  as  strong  words,  not  sufficiently 
guarded,  in  the  emergencies  of  fierce  and  vital  debate. 

But  the  passage  most  confidently  relied  upon  to  prove 
that  Calvin  held  the  doctrine  of  infant  damnation  is  the 
following  from  his  Institutes,  Book  III.,  Chap.  XXXIIL, 
Sec.  7 :  "I  inquire  again,  how  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
fall  of  Adam,  independent  of  any  remedy,  should  in- 
volve so  many  nations  with  their  infant  children  in  eter- 
nal death,  but  because  such  was  the  will  of  God." 

Here  the  predication  is  that  the  fall  of  Adam,  when 
the  gracious  remedy  is  thought  out  of  sight,  involved 
many  nations,  with  their  infant  children,  in  eternal  death. 
This,  say  his  critics,  settles  it ;  for  he  distinctly  says,  "in- 
fant children  in  eternal  death,"  and  that  by  "the  will 
of  God." 

But  the  context  eliminates  from  the  passage  the  whole 
idea  of  infant  damnation.  The  quotation  is  made  from 
that  chapter  of  the  Institutes  in  which  Calvin  answers 
objections  to  Predestination. 

The  first  objection  is:  God  precludes  Himself  from 
finding  fault  because  reprobation  antedates  the  actual 
sinning  of  His  creatures.  To  this,  Calvin  makes  the  sub- 
lapsarian  reply,  that,  while  chronologically  reprobation 
precedes  sinning,  logically — at  the  moment  of  forming 
the  decree  in  the  divine  mind — mankind  was  conceived 
as  created  and  fallen.     "If  all  whom  the  Lord  predes- 


120  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

tinates  to  death  are  in  their  natural  condition  hable  to 
the  sentence  of  death,  what  injustice  do  they  complain 
of  receiving  from  him?  ...  If  they  have  all  been 
taken  from  a  corrupt  mass,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they 
are  subject  to  condemnation.  Let  them  not,  therefore, 
accuse  God  of  injustice." 

The  second  objection  he  gives  his  attention  to  is  the 
following:  Reprobation  necessitates  the  very  sin  for 
which  the  reprobate  are  condemned.  To  this  objection 
he  makes  the  following  effective  reply:  God  having  de- 
termined to  pass  by  a  corrupt  and  guilty  sinner  and  leave 
him  in  his  natural  state  unregenerated  by  divine  grace, 
does  thus  doom  him  by  the  negative  act  of  letting  him 
alone  and  leaving  him  to  himself  for  the  destiny  of  his 
own  making. 

But  to  this  resolution  of  this  objection,  some  of  his 
critics  took  the  ground  that  God  made  no  decree  con- 
cerning the  lost  of  any  kind;  that  is,  denied  the  decree 
of  reprobation  outright.  To  this  Calvin  replied:  If  God 
made  no  decree,  concerning  the  lost,  of  one  kind  or 
another — if  the  divine  will  was  only  negative  and  the 
divine  attitude  neutral  and  non-committal — then,  in  that 
case,  under  that  supposition,  how  can  his  opponents  ex- 
plain the  fact  that  the  fall  of  Adam  involved  not  only 
Adam  himself,  but  also  many  nations  with  their  infant 
children  in  eternal  death?" 

It  is  a  Biblical  fact  that  the  fall  of  Adam  did  involve 
not  only  Adam  himself,  but  all  his  posterity,  in  a  ruin, 
independent  of  any  remedy,  would  be  eternal.  Now  this 
consequence,  he  argues,  was  either  (i)  by  nature,  or  (2) 
by  the  will  of  God.  He  denies  that  the  involvement  of 
the  race  in  the  fall  of  Adam  was  a  naturalistic  result, 
and  affirms  that  it  was  a  judicial  judgment  of  God.   His 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  121 

express  language  is:  "This  (the  race's  participation  in 
the  sin  of  Adam),  not  being  attributable  to  nature,  it 
is  evident  must  have  proceeded  from  the  wonderful 
counsel  of  God." 

This  is  the  purpose  and  the  connection  of  the  famous 
sentence  in  which  Calvin  called  the  decree  of  reprobation 
an  "horrible  decree."  Think,  says  Calvin,  the  remedy 
out  the  way — think  the  whole  scheme  of  saving  grace  as 
non-existent — then  how  could  you  explain  the  fact  that 
the  fall  of  Adam  involved  "nations  and  their  infant 
children"  in  a  death  which  would  have  otherwise  been 
eternal,  except  you  say  it  was  because  God  so  willed  it? 

It  is  clear  that  Calvin  has  not  asserted  in  this  place, 
said  to  be  the  strongest  passage  on  the  subject  which  can 
be  quoted,  the  doctrine  of  infant  damnation.  He  has 
said  here  that  God  has  passed  by  some  "nations  with 
their  infant  children"  and  left  them  to  the  doom  of 
"eternal  death,"  but  he  has  not  here  said  that  any  repro- 
bate infant  dies  in  its  infancy  and  is  consigned  to  "eternal 
death"  while  it  is  an  infant. 

Inferences. 

But  the  main  reliance  of  Calvin's  accusers  is  upon 
their  logical  deductions  from  his  theological  system. 
Their  interpretation  of  certain  isolated  passages  from 
his  writings  are  made  plausible  because  of  their  infer- 
ences from  his  doctrine  of  Predestination. 

He  did  hold  that  all  mankind  were  united  to  Adam 
by  divine  ordination ;  that  they  sinned  in  him  and  fell 
with  him  in  his  first  transgression ;  that  all  the  race  did 
thus  become  guilty  and  depraved;  that  God  did  pro- 
nounce upon  the  entire  human  family  therefor  a  sentence 


122  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

of  eternal  death ;  that  children  are  consequently  born 
into  the  world  under  guilt  and  condemnation;  that  out 
of  this  "corrupt  mass"  God  did  elect  some  to  everlast- 
ing life  and  pass  by  others  with  His  saving  mercy  and 
leave  them  in  their  estate  of  sin  and  misery;  that  this 
Predestination  was  eternal  and  antenatal;  that  all  in- 
fants consequently  make  their  appearance  in  the  world 
either  as  elect  or  reprobate,  with  final  destiny  determined ; 
but  he  no  where  taught,  by  direction  or  by  indirection, 
that  this  sentence  of  eternal  death  is  executed  upon  any 
non-elect  infant  while  in  its  infantile  state. 

There  are  two  reasons  why  his  theology  would  re- 
quire him  to  hold,  in  order  to  be  consistent  with  him- 
self, that  no  reprobate  infant  can  perish  in  its  infancy. 

I.  He  everywhere  taught  that  the  reprobate  "pro- 
cure" their  own  destruction.  That  is,  they  are  the  ac- 
tive, conscious  agents  in  bringing  about  their  own  doom. 

In  his  last  chapter  on  Predestination,  in  which  he 
closes  and  dismisses  the  subject,  he  contrasts  the  mode 
in  which  the  elect  actually  attain  their  predestined  end, 
and  the  mode  in  which  the  reprobate  realize  their  pre- 
destined death.  The  elect  come  to  heaven  by  the  ef- 
fectual operation  of  the  grace  of  the  Spirit,  but  the 
reprobate  come  to  their  dreadful  doom  by  the  effectual 
operation  of  their  own  will.  The  elect  are  patients  and 
the  Spirit  is  the  agent  of  their  salvation ;  but  the  repro- 
bate are  agents  and  the  Spirit  is  patient  in  their  actual 
damnation. 

He  heads  this  last  chapter:  "Election  confirmed  by 
the  divine  call.  The  destined  destruction  of  the  repro- 
bate procured  by  themselves"  (Book  UL,  Chapter 
XXIV.).  This  is  his  final  thesis  and  last  contention: 
The  benefits  of  election  are  procured  for  the  elect  by 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  123 

divine  vocation;  but  the  destined  destruction  of  the  repro- 
bate is  procured  by  themselves. 

How  are  these  two  decrees — election  and  reproba- 
tion— executed  in  time  and  made  manifest  in  experi- 
ence? Calvin  answers:  Election  is  made  manifest,  re- 
vealed, declared,  developed  in  conscious  experience  by 
the  divine  call ;  the  other  decree — reprobation — is  trans- 
lated into  history  and  experience  by  the  reprobate  them- 
selves through  their  own  personal  and  conscious  acts  of 
sin — the  destined  destruction  of  the  reprobate  is  pro- 
cured by  themselves." 

He  says :  "The  destined  destruction  of  the  reprobate 
is  procured  by  themselves"  (Book  HI.,  Chapter  XXIV.). 
Again :  God  does  what  He  does  to  the  reprobate  be- 
cause of  "their  impiety,  wickedness,  and  ingratitude" 
(Book  HI.,  Chapter  XXIV.,  Section  14).  Again:  "They 
can  do  nothing  but  what  is  deserving  of  his  curse"  (Book 
III.,  Chapter  XXIV.,  Section  17). 

In  the  execution  of  the  decree  of  election,  Calvin 
predicates  the  divine  causality ;  but  in  the  execution  of 
the  decree  of  reprobation  he  predicates  the  causality  of 
the  reprobate  themselves.  In  other  words :  while  origi- 
nal sin  was  the  ground  of  a  universal,  race-wide  con- 
demnation, actual  sin  is  the  necessary  premise  of  actual 
damnation. 

This  being  true,  it  is  a  logical  implicate  of  his 
premises  that  no  reprobate  child  could  die  in  its  infancy, 
but  must  be  kept  alive  by  the  providence  of  God  to  the 
years  of  moral  discretion,  so  that  it  could  "procure"  its 
own  destruction  by  translating  the  corruption  which  is 
"latent"  into  sin  of  omission  and  commission. 

2.  A  second  premise  of  Calvin  which  precludes  the 
idea  of  his  holding  infant  damnation  is  his  doctrine  of 
resurrection  and  punishment. 


124  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  . 

He  says :  "It  would  be  as  light  punishment  to  be  de- 
stroyed by  death,  if  they  (the  reprobate)  were  not  to  be 
brought  before  the  Judge  whose  infinite  and  endless 
vengeance  they  have  incurred,  to  receive  the  punishment 
due  to  their  rebellion"  (Book  III.,  Chapter  XXV.,  Sec- 
tion 9). 

There  is  something  incongruous  and  absurd  in  an  in- 
fant being  "brought"  before  a  Judge  to  answer  for  his 
"rebellion" !  Yet  this  must  be  charged  upon  the  great 
Genevan,  if  we  make  him  teach  that  any  non-elect  in- 
fants die  in  infancy.  That  an  infant  eight  days  of  age 
should  be  engaged  in  a  rebellion  against  God  is  some- 
thing unthinkable. 

The  whole  idea  of  punishment  cannot  be  associated 
with  infants  without  shocking  the  very  genius  of  Cal- 
vin's theological  system.  Punishment,  strictly  speaking, 
is  that  suffering  which  is  inflicted  upon  a  person  because 
of  his  guilt.  For  suffering  to  be  punishment  the  subject 
must  be  aware  in  conscience  of  the  moral  reason  for 
the  infliction.  A  horse  can  be  made  to  suffer  because 
he  has  a  nervous  system,  but  he  cannot  be  punished  be- 
cause he  has  no  conscience.  An  infant  can  be  made  to 
suffer,  because  it  has  a  sentiment  nature;  but  it  cannot 
be  punished,  because  its  conscience  has  not  been  de- 
veloped to  the  degree  where  it  can  appreciate  the  moral 
reason  for  its  suffering. 

But  the  death  of  an  infant  must  be  either  penal  or 
disciplinary.  The  death  of  a  reprobate  infant  cannot  be 
disciplinary,  because  it  is  non-elect  and  outside  the  pale 
of  the  scheme  of  grace;  and  its  death  cannot  be  penal, 
because  it  cannot  in  conscience  appreciate  the  moral 
meaning  of  death. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  125 

Therefore,  we  must  conclude  from  Calvin's  general 
premises,  that  a  reprobate  infant  cannot  die  as  an  in- 
fant. 

On  the  contrary  we  must  conclude  from  his  general 
teaching  about  the  justice  and  judgment  of  God,  that 
the  divine  providence  must  keep  all  reprobate  children 
alive  until  they  can  reach  the  years  of  their  moral  ma- 
jority, and  translate  their  original  sin  into  actual  sin, 
so  as  to  create  a  ground,  in  conscience  and  consciousness, 
for  their  actual  punishment. 

It  is  a  fair  inference  from  his  whole  theology,  that  he 
predicated  actual  damnation  only  upon  actual  transgres- 
sion. 

I.  Calvin  did,  explicitly  and  avowedly,  teach  the  sal- 
vation of  all  elect  infants  which  die  in  their  infancy. 

II.  He  taught,  contrary  to  the  Romanism  and  Pela- 
gianism  of  his  day,  that  the  mode  of  the  salvation  of  in- 
fants was  (i)  by  the  election  of  the  Father,  (2)  by  the 
atonement  of  the  Son,  and  (3)  by  the  vocation  of  the 
Spirit.  He  said  that  the  Spirit  could  regenerate,  and 
sanctify,  and  communicate,  with  infants  in  a  manner  in- 
scrutible  to  us. 

III.  Concerning  reprobate  infants,  he  taught  that 
there  were  such  infants ;  that  they  were  involved,  with 
their  parents,  in  the  Adamic  fall  and  curse ;  and  that 
they  are  all  born  into  the  world  guilty,  depraved,  and 
condemned. 

IV.  He  did  not  teach  that  any  reprobate  infants  die 
in  their  infancy,  and  so  have  executed  upon  them  the 
sentence  of  eternal  death  while  at  an  infantile  and  irre- 
sponsible age. 


126  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

V.  He  did  teach  that  all  the  reprobate  "procure  their 
own  destined  destruction"  by  their  overt  and  conscious 
acts  of  disobedience ;  and  that  their  final  damnation 
would  be  predicated  upon  their  evil  deeds. 

VI.  He  did  teach  that  all  the  reprobate  must  appear 
before  God  as  a  Judge,  and  receive  the  judicial  punish- 
ment due  to  their  sins,  which  requires  us  to  infer  that 
every  one  so  dealt  with  must  be  morally  full-grown. 

Vn.  Wherefore  we  must  conclude  that  Calvin,  to  be 
consistent  with  the  ruling  principles  of  his  theology,  must 
have  held  that  no  reprobate  child  died  in  infancy;  but 
that,  on  the  contrary,  all  such  infants  live  to  the  age  of 
moral  maturity,  and  "procure  their  destined  destruction" 
by  "their  impiety  and  crimes"  and  by  their  "rebellion" 
against  God. 


Rev.  S.  L.  Morris,  D.  D., 
Atlanta,  Ga. 


THE   RELATION  OF  CALVIN  AND 
CALVINISM  TO  MISSIONS. 


By  Rev.  S.  L.  Morris,  D.  D., 

Secretary  of  Home  Missions  of  the 

Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S. 

In  its  halls  of  fame,  the  world  enshrines  chiefly  its 
warriors,  men  whose  glory  is  written  in  characters  of 
blood.  In  striking  contrast  with  the  world's  ideals, 
the  grandest  of  all  conquerors  was  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
who  triumphed  by  the  shedding  of  His  own  blood, 
who  rules  the  thought  of  men  by  the  scepter  of  Truth, 
who  wins  the  allegiance  of  His  subjects  by  the  power 
of  Love.  As  a  consequence,  He  alone  will  sway  the 
scepter  of  universal  dominion.  To  Him  every  knee 
shall  bow,  and  every  tongue  make  confession.  The 
means  by  which  He  shall  eventually  be  crowned  Lord 
of  All  and  "His  glory  spread  from  pole  to  pole," 
through  the  agency  of  the  church  is  missions — the 
world-wide  proclamation  of  the  Gospel. 

In  keeping  with  its  ideals  are  the  heroes  adjudged 
by  the  world  worthy  of  monuments  at  its  hands.  I 
have  stood  by  the  equestrian  statue  of  Charles  II,  near 
St.  Giles  Cathedral,  Edinburgh,  while  scarcely  ten 
paces  distant,  the  only  tablet  to  John  Knox  was  a  flat 
stone  in  the  pavement,  marked  "J.  K.,"  over  which 
rattle  the  wheels  of  trafific,  and  resounds  the  tread  of 
the  passer  by.  Geneva  has  erected  monuments  to  Ser- 
vetus  and  Rousseau,  while  even  the  reputed  grave  of 


128  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Calvin,  marked  by  a  modest  stone,  engraved  "J.  C," 
is  at  best  only  a  guess  at  the  last  resting-place  of  the 
great  Reformer  who  sleeps  in  an  unknown  grave. 
Nevertheless,  Scotland  is  the  real  monument  of  John 
Knox,  and  John  Calvin's  is  every  Republican  Govern- 
ment of  earth,  the  public  school  system  of  all  nations 
and  "The  Reformed  Churches  throughout  the  world 
holding  the  Presbyterian  System." 

The  personality  and  glory  of  Calvin  suffer  by  any 
■V  attempt  at  eulogy.  His  cotemporaries  vie  with  each 
other  in  an  effort  to  do  him  honor.  Even  his  enemies, 
by  the  closest  scrutiny,  reveal  no  glaring  defects  of 
character.  Ernest  Renan,  who  unconsciously  awards 
him  apostolic  succession  by  saying,  "Paul  begat  Au- 
Wustine,  and  Augustine  begat  John  Calvin,"  exalts 
ICalvin  himself  as  "the  most  Christian  man  of  his 
igeneration." 

I.  In  discussing  our  appointed  theme,  "The  Rela- 
tion of  Calvin  and  Calvinism  to  Missions,"  we  shall 
invite  attention  first  of  all  to  Calvin  and  missions. 

The  times  of  Calvin  were  polemic,  rather  than  evan- 
gelistic. It  was  the  great  Reformation  period  of 
Church  History,  which  afforded  not  so  much  the  oppor- 
tunity of  evangelistic  crusades  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world,  as  it  required  the  heroic  spirit  of  the  martyr 
in  witnessing  to  the  truth  of  God,  exemplifying  the  funda- 
mental root-meaning  of  witness  (martyr)  in  the  orig- 
inal tongue.  Not  in  the  sense  of  sealing  his  faith  with 
his  blood,  but  in  the  higher  significance  of  suffering 
mentally  and  spiritually  for  the  faith,  John  Calvin  was 
a  martyr  to  the  truth. 

Banished  from  Geneva  at  one  period,  persecuted, 
his  life  in  constant  danger,  and  even  when  at  the  zenith 
of  his  power  and  influence,  unloved  by  Geneva,  but 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  129 

merely  tolerated  for  the  sake  of  his  presiding  genius 
in  afifairs  of  statecraft,  he  suffered  not  the  momentary 
pangs  of  a  dying  martyr,  but  the  long-drawn-out  agony 
of  life-martyrdom;  as  widely  removed  from  the  other 
as  anguish  of  soul  exceeds  the  pangs  of  physical  pain. 

The  spirit  of  evangelist  and  polemic  alike  is  service 
and  sacrifice.  I'he  missionary,  subjecting  himself  to 
the  hardships  of  heathenism,  displays  no  higher  type 
of  sacrifice  and  engages  in  no  nobler  service  than  the 
soldier  of  the  Cross,  who  stands  for  the  defense  of  the 
citadel  of  truth.  The  latter  may  even  demand  a 
severer  type  of  moral  courage.  Unquestionably  the 
maintenance  of  the  truth  is  as  important  to  the  life  of 
the  Church  as  the  propagation  of  the  faith  in  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Kingdom. 

The  choice  of  God  for  Calvin's  sphere  of  service 
fell  in  the  direction  of  polemics.  The  battle  he  waged, 
and  the  victory  he  won  for  the  truth  was  more  than  the 
winning  of  a  heathen  continent  for  Christ.  It  af- 
fected the  destiny  of  all  nations,  and  stretches  in  its 
far-reaching  consequences  unto  all  the  generations  of 
the  coming  ages. 

Still,  at  the  same  time,  it  was  also  permitted  him 
to  exhibit  the  missionary  spirit  of  Christianity.  Occu- 
pied by  affairs  of  state,  burdened  with  the  responsibili- 
ties of  civic  righteousness,  charged  with  the  duty  of 
theological  instruction,  yet  he  found  occasion  to  under- 
take a  campaign  for  the  conversion  of  South  America. 
In  the  Christian  Retrospect  and  Register,  Robert 
Baird,  upon  the  authority  of  the  "Histoire  Univer- 
selle,"  gives  the  following  account  of  the  first  mission 
undertaken  by  Protestantism : 

"To  Calvin,  the  Reformer  of  Geneva,  belongs  the 
credit    of    having    first    attempted,    in    the    Protestant 


130  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  ^ 

churches,  to  excite  interest  in  behalf  of  a  heathen 
nation.  An  expedition  was  fitted  out  in  the  year  1555 
by  Villegagnon,  a  Knight  of  Malta,  under  the  patron- 
age of  Henry  II.  of  France,  with  the  view  of  establish- 
ing a  French  colony  in  the  New  World.  The  appro- 
bation of  the  monarch  was  secured  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  excellent  Admiral  De  Coligny,  whose  favor 
Villegagnon  propitiated  by  the  secret  understanding 
that  the  projected  colony  should  protect  the  Reformed 
religion.  Accordingly,  Calvin  was  applied  to,  in  order 
to  obtain  ministers  to  embark  with  the  expedition. 

"After  consultation  with  the  other  pastors  of  Gen- 
eva, he  sent  two — Guillaume  Chartier  and  Pierre 
Richier, — who  were  afterward  joined  by  several  others. 
Their  object  was,  at  once,  to  labor  among  the  colonists 
and  to  evangelize  the  heathen  aborigines.  The  expe- 
dition reached  Fort  Coligny,  as  it  was  named,  on  the 
Rio  De  Janeiro,  Brazil,  in  March,  1556.  On  their 
arrival,  the  Genevan  ministers  proceeded  to  constitute 
a  church,  according  to  the  forms  and  rites  of  the  Re- 
formed churches,  and  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper. 
But  Villegagnon  soon  betrayed  his  true  character  and 
disposition,  and  after  cruelly  maltreating  the  mission- 
aries, forced  them  to  re-embark  and  return  to  France." 

One  can  scarcely  avoid  speculation  as  to  what 
"might  have  been,"  if  the  unfortunate  mission  had  not 
been  thus  prematurely  wrecked.  As  Calvin's  name  is 
associated  with  Augustine,  the  great  theologian,  might 
it  not  also  have  been  linked  with  Augustine  the  mis- 
sionary in  the  conversion  of  a  continent?  If  the  seeds 
of  Protestant  Christianity  planted  by  him  in  South 
America  had  germinated,  who  can  say  if  the  glory  of 
that  misguided  continent  might  not  have  shone  with 
all  the  lustre  of  Protestant  North  America?    But,  alas! 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  131 

his  missionary  venture  served  no  useful  purpose,  ex- 
cept to  exhibit  his  Christian  spirit  and  benevolent  atti- 
tude toward  world-wide  evangelization  in  obedience 
to  the  Great  Commission. 

Just  as  a  premature  blossom  in  the  treacherous 
Indian  summer,  though  nipped  by  the  early  frosts  ot 
winter,  is  nevertheless  a  prophecy  of  the  coming 
spring;  so  Calvin's  ill-timed  evangelism  was  but  the 
guarantee  of  the  evangelistic  spirit  of  Calvinism,  when 
the  springtime  of  favorable  seasons  should  furnish 
opportunity  to  flower  out  in  the  glorious  harvest  of 
the  world's  conversion. 

In  the  providence  of  God,  his  missionary  zeal  was 
confined  to  the  task  of  la3dng  foundations  in  practical 
home  mission  work,  while  foreign  missions  was  rather 
the  future  outcome  of  his  spirit  and  principles.  Though 
the  foundation  of  an  edifice  may  not  be  as  ornate  and 
attractive  as  the  superstructure,  yet  it  must  be  even 
more  substantial  by  reason  of  its  supreme  importance. 
The  glory  of  Calvin  in  the  sphere  of  missions  is  the 
glory  of  laying  foundations ;  and  he  must  also  share 
the  glory  of  the  magnificent  superstructure,  supported 
by  so  substantial  a  basis.  If  some  twentieth  century 
Apostle  Paul  should  convert  South  America  to  Protes- 
tantism, and  place  a  new  continent  in  the  galaxy  of 
evangelical  Christianity,  would  that  be  more  glorious 
than  the  transcendent  work  of  Calvin,  whose  well-nigh 
inspired  genius  laid  the  foundations  of  North  America's 
future  greatness,  and  made  it  such  a  potent  factor  in 
the  evangelization  of  the  world  as  to  justify  the  rally- 
ing cry,  "As  goes  America,  so  goes  the  world"? 

II.  This  opens  the  way  for  the  consideration  of  the 
second  part  of  our  subject,  "The  Relation  of  Calvinism 
to  Missions." 


132  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

It  might  be  pertinent  to  inquire  first  of  all,  What  is 
Calvinism?  The  system  of  Calvinism,  by  taking  the 
name  of  Calvin,  introduces  confusion  into  the  thought 
of  men;  for  Calvinism  has  a  two-fold  significance. 
From  its  theological  side,  it  is  a  misnomer.  The  Five 
Points  of  Calvinism  reach  back  to  Augustine  and  to 
Paul.  Renan  was  substantially  right:  "Paul  begat 
Augustine,  and  Augustine  begat  John  Calvin" ;  but  a 
profounder  thinker  than  Renan  traces  Calvinism  back 
to  Christ,  and  indeed  to  the  prophets  of  Israel,  and  to 
the  tents  of  the  patriarchs.  Consequently,  in  its  theo- 
logical aspect,  Calvinism  is  older  than  Calvin;  just  as 
Christianity  is  older  than  Christ.  In  the  sense  that 
Calvin  was  a  Christian,  Christ  himself  was  a  Calvinist. 
It  was  Christ  who  affirmed,  that  "Many  are  called,  but 
few  are  chosen" ;  and  unhesitatingly  declared  that  the 
divine  providence  affecting  individuals  and  nations 
was  determined  and  conditioned  for  "the  elect's  sake." 
No  Calvinist  ever  uttered  stronger  Calvinism  than  One 
who  said :  "No  man  can  come  unto  me  except  it  were 
given  unto  him  of  my  Father."  "All  that  the  Father 
giveth  me  shall  come  to  me."  "And  I  give  unto  them 
eternal  life,  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall 
any  man  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand." 

Only  on  its  scientific  side,  as  a  Life  System,  is 
Calvinism  distinctly  Calvinistic.  The  distinctive  work 
of  Calvin  was  to  bequeath  to  the  world  as  his  legacy 
of  thought  that  virile  and  logical  S3'stem,  which  is  the 
creator  of  the  modern  world ;  or,  as  the  English  his- 
torian Green  expresses  it :  "It  is  in  Calvinism  that  the 
modern  world  strikes  its  roots ;  for  it  was  Calvinism 
that  first  revealed  to  the  world  the  dignJiy  and  worth 
of  man."  The  keynote  of  his  religious  philosophy 
was  the  individuality  of  the  human  soul  in  direct  con- 
tact and  immediate  communion  with  God. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  133 

In  the  sweep  of  its  mighty  movement,  it  affected 
alike  the  individual  soul,  the  ecclesiastical  system,  and 
the  polity  of  the  state.  In  religion,  it  swept  aside 
priests  and  intermediaries  with  their  confessionals  and 
dispensaries  of  divine  grace,  and  placed  the  soul  in 
immediate  and  direct  touch  with  God,  in  its  own  indi- 
vidual responsibility.  The  logical  result  in  church 
government  was  to  sweep  aside  bishops  and  prelates 
as  obstacles  and  rubbish,  and  place  the  people,  through 
their  elective  representatives,  in  charge  of  the  church 
as  sole  rulers  in  the  house  of  God. 

James  I.  was  astute  enough  to  see  the  bearing  upon 
civil  government  of  Calvin's  system,  when  he  stated: 
"Presbytery  agreeth  as  well  with  monarchy  as  God 
with  the  devil" ;  and  we  will  not  presume  to  take  issue 
with  so  eminent  authority  as  His  Majesty,  King  James. 
History  has  since  justified  his  foresight;  for  Calvinism 
has  swept  aside  scepters  and  thrones,  and  substituted 
for  autocratic  monarchy  popular  republicanism  in  its 
varying  forms. 

Bancroft,  the  greatest  American  historian,  was 
eminently  justified  in  crowning  John  Calvin  as  the 
"father^of  America";  while  D'Aubigne,  the  historian 
of  the  Reformation,  supports  his  position  by  declaring: 
"Calvin  was  the  founder  of  the  greatest  of  republics. 
The  Pilgrims,  who  left  their  country  in  the  reign  of 
James  I.,  and,  landing  on  the  barren  soil  of  New  Eng- 
land, founded  populous  and  mighty  colonies,  were  his 
sons ;  and  that  American  nation  which  we  have  seen 
growing  so  rapidly  boasts  as  its  father  the  humble 
Reformer  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Leman." 

Four  considerations  will  be  urged  to  justify  our 
contention  that  Calvinism  is  the  most  potent  agency  in 
the  evangelization  of  the  world. 


134  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

I.  In  its  theological  aspect,  Calvinism,  existing 
ages  before  Calvin,  had  its  influence  in  the  early  days 
of  Christianity  on  the  life  and  activity  of  the  church. 
In  character  it  made  men  conspicuous  in  their  differ- 
entiation from  other  classes.  In  heroism  and  endur- 
ance, it  gave  the  world  startling  exhibitions  of  mar- 
tyrdom in  men  who  could  kiss  the  chains  binding  them 
to  the  stake,  and  sing  hallelujahs  as  their  souls  de- 
parted in  chariots  of  flame.  In  zeal  and  activity,  it 
enlisted  the  rank  and  file  of  the  church  in  a  religious 
enthusiasm,  which  went  from  house  to  house,  and  car- 
ried the  Gospel  "To  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 

The  Apostle  Paul  is  the  classical  illustration  of  the 
spirit  of  the  ancient  church.  Is  it  a  mere  coincidence 
that  Paul,  recognized  as  the  profoundest  exponent  of 
Calvinism,  is  at  the  same  time  regarded  next  to  the 
Master  himself,  as  the  type  and  model  of  all  mission- 
ary effort?  Opponents  of  Calvinism  have  not  hesi- 
tated to  charge  Paul  with  the  responsibility  of  giving 
the  Calvinistic  cast  to  the  theological  thought  of  the 
church.  Yet  this  same  Paul  is  always  exalted  as  the 
greatest  and  grandest  of  all  missionaries.  How  did 
these  elements  in  his  character  stand  related  as  cause 
and  effect?  Was  it  his  thorough  Calvinism  that  created 
his  intense  missionary  fervor^  or  vice  versa?  The 
question  answers  itself. 

The  Calvinism  of  the  first  century  was  as  unques- 
tionable as  that  of  Paul  himself,  who  gave  cast  to  the 
thinking  of  the  first  century.  Sacred  history,  ere  clos- 
ing, itself  gives  significant  glimpses  of  the  missionary 
spirit  of  the  church  while  under  the  dominating  influ- 
ence of  Calvinism.  That  was  an  exquisite  touch  which 
records  in  the  language  of  the  Church's  enemies,  the 
estimate    of  apostolic    success,    complaining:     "These 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  135 

that  have  turned  the  world  upside  down  have  come 
hither  also."  It  was  not  an  ardent  admirer  of  Paul 
who  testified  to  his  credit,  "That  not  alone  at  Ephesus, 
but  almost  throughout  all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath  per- 
suaded and  turned  away  much  people"  from  idolatry, 
Paul  himself  gives  a  suggestive  hint  of  the  missionary 
propaganda  of  the  age  by  asserting,  that  they  had 
preached  the  Gospel  "to  every  creature  which  is  under 
heaven."  (Col.  i.  23.) 

The  remarkable  characteristic  of  the  evangelism  of 
ancient  Christianity  was  its  propaganda  in  the  face  of 
persecution,  and  even  at  the  cost  of  martyrdom.  The 
twentieth  century  Christianity,  "holding  the  wealth^ 
of  the  world  in  its  hands,"  propagates  the  faith  by 
putting  a  conservative  percentage  of  its  wealth  into 
the  enterprise  of  evangelizing  the  world.  The  first 
century  Christianity,  conspicuous  for  its  poverty,  put  its 
soul  into  the  task,  and  poured  its  blood  more  freely  than 
to-day  the  Church,  rolling  in  wealth,  pours  its  money. 
It  was  proverbial :  "The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the 
seed  of  the  Church." 

In  the  spirit  of  Paul,  the  church  of  that  Calvinistic 
age  "Counted  not  its  life  dear  unto  itself."  James 
Anthony  Froude  could  not  be  accused  of  partiality  to 
Calvinism,  and  yet  his  statement  remains  unchallenged 
that  Calvinism,  as  long  as  it  was  the  creed  of  the 
Church,  made  the  grandest  heroes  of  men,  and  gives 
as  illustrations,  William  the  Silent,  Luther,  Knox,  An- 
drew Melville,  the  Regent  Murray,  Coligny,  Cromwell, 
Milton  and  Bunyan.  The  Calvinism  which  made 
heroes  and  martyrs  of  men  gave  also  through  them 
such  an  exhibition  of  missionary  zeal  and  successful 
propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  those  early  days  of  Chris- 
tianity as  has  never  since  been  paralleled  in  the  history 
of  the  world. 


136  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

2.  In  its  scientific  aspect  as  a  Life  System,  the  in- 
fluence of  Calvinism  on  governments  and  society  has 
largely  produced  our  modern  Christian  civilization, 
whose  chief  glory  is  not  the  marvelous  material  devel- 
opment, nor  the  dazzling  scientific  achievements  of 
the  age,  but  the  revival  of  a  missionary  zeal,  which 
seeks  to  rival  the  apostolic  triumphs  of  Calvinistic 
Christianity. 

Bartholdi's  Statue  of  Liberty  Enlightening  the 
World  is  essentially  a  false  conception  in  point  of 
fact ;  but  nearly  always  the  false  has  some  basis  in 
truth,  Calvin  moulded  the  thought  of  the  Renaissance, 
which  in  the  political  hemisphere  of  the  state  mani- 
fested itself  in  the  largest  freedom  of  life  and  action 
through  the  operation  of  modern  republicanism.  This 
liberty,  thus  the  product  of  Calvinistic  thought  and 
ideals,  reaching  its  highest  development  in  republican 
government,  has  in  removing  the  bonds  and  shackles 
by  which  the  Church  has  been  held  in  more  or  less 
restraint,  furnished  the  opportunity  for  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  to  fulfil  its  divine  mission  in  enlightening  the 
world.  It  was  not  liberty  itself,  but  the  Gospel  which 
was  given  its  liberty,  that  is  enlightening  the  world. 

The  torch  lighted  by  John  Calvin  gave  to  the  world 
the  twin-product  of  republicanism  in  the  state  and  the 
free  Christian  commonwealth  in  the  Church.  On  its 
political  side,  it  found  expression  in  the  republicanism 
of  Geneva,  Switzerland,  Holland,  Great  Britain  and 
America,  and  in  its  ever-widening  influence  is  being 
felt  to-day  even  in  autocratic  Russia  and  despotic 
Turkey.  On  its  ecclesiastical  side,  it  reaches  its  full 
stature  in  "the  Reformed  Churches  throughout  the 
world  holding  the  Presbyterian  System,"  which,  how- 
ever, in  its  indirect  influence  modifies  alike  the  inde- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  137 

pendency  of  Congregationalism  and  the  despotism  of 
Prelacy,  attracting  each  to  itself  as  the  golden  mean. 
It  was  Calvinism  which  lifted  Geneva  from  the 
depths  of  civic  and  moral  degradation,  and  placed  it, 
as  a  glittering  gem  of  civil  and  religions  liberty,  on 
the  brow  of  Enrope,  the  first-fruits  of  a  new  philosophy 
destined  to  revolutionize  society  and  human  govern- 
ments. It  was  Calvinism  which,  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  John  Knox,  awakened  Scotland  to  a 
higher  life ;  which  hurled  the  stool  of  Jennie  Geddes 
at  tyrannical  encroachments  upon  religious  liberty,  and 
made  the  sturdy  Scotch  character  the  staunchest  and 
grandest  national  life  the  world  has  ever  produced. 
It  was  Calvinism  which  took  off  the  head  of  Charles  I. 
and  gave  England  in  the  Protectorate  of  Oliver  Crom- 
well the  first  full  breath  of  constitutional  liberty,  and 
at  the  same  time  furnished  that  larger  protectorate  to 
struggling  Protestantism  throughout  Europe,  making 
that  era  the  brightest  chapter  in  English  history.  It 
was  Calvinism  which  waged  successfully  under  Wil- 
liam the  Silent,  the  unequal  contest  of  Holland  with 
Spain,  and  created  the  Dutch  Republic,  which  even- 
tually hurled  the  Stuarts  from  the  throne  of  England, 
and  guaranteed  constitutional  and  religious  liberty  to 
the  English-speaking  world.  It  was  Calvinism  which 
founded  in  America  the  greatest  of  Republics,  and 
made  it  the  Liberator  of  Cuba  and  the  Philippines, 
and  the  protector  of  the  weaker  members  in  the  family 
of  nations.  It  is  Calvinism  which,  through  the  agency 
of  Robert  College  on  the  Bosphorus  and  Presbyterian 
missions  in  the  East,  is  leavening  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
and  giving-  even  the  Turk  a  taste  of  constitutional 
liberty. 


138  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

In  the  historic  conflict  of  the  ages,  Calvinism  was 
vanquished  in  France,  in  the  defeat  of  the  Huguenots ; 
and  as  a  consequence  France,  the  fatherland  of  John 
Calvin,  descended  almost  to  the  level  of  Spain.  If 
Spain  had  triumphed  in  Holland,  in  all  human  prob- 
ability Calvinism  would  have  perished  from  the  earth, 
and  Holland  would  also  have  joined  France  and  Spain 
in  a  trio  of  degenerate  nations.  In  that  case,  William 
of  Orange  would  never  have  turned  the  scale  against 
the  Stuarts  in  Britain,  and  North  America  would  read 
its  fate  to-day  in  the  stagnation  of  South  America.  So 
that  the  glory  of  North  America  is  due  chiefly  to  the 
triumph  of  Calvinism,  jjusdfying  Ranke,  the  historian, 
in  speaking  of  Calvin  as  "virtual  founder  of  America." 

Here  the  questron  arises.  What  bearing  has  all  this 
on  Missions  ?  "Much  every  way,"  chiefly  because  Cal- 
vinism created  the  modern  Anglo-Saxon  world,  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  is  the  greatest  evangelistic  force  of  Chris- 
tendom. The  Anglo-Saxon  has  created  an  empire  of 
missions — world-wide,  on  whose  dominion  the  sun 
never  sets.  The  statistics  of  1908  reveal  a  total  gift 
to  foreign  missions  last  year  of  $22,846,465,  and  of 
this  amount,  the  Anglo-Saxon  contingent  contributed 
$19,266,880,  nearly  90  per  cent.,  leaving  only  $3,578,- 
588  for  the  remainder  of  the  world.  If  this  were  not 
demonstration  sufficient  of  the  influence  of  Calvinism, 
as  an  evangelizing  force,  it  could  also  be  further  dem- 
onstrated by  statistics  that  the  Calvinistic  churches 
lead  the  world  in  their  gifts  to  missions. 

3.  The  essential  principles  of  Calvinism  would  lead 
us  a  priori  to  infer  that  it  would  furnish  the  strongest 
incentives  to  successful  missionary  effort.  Nothing  is 
more  reassuring  and  better  calculated  to  arouse  the 
supremest  effort  for  the  advancement  of  the  Kingdom 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  139 

than  a  profound  belief  in  the  divine  sovereignty  of 
God,  who  "sits  on  no  precarious  throne"  and  sends 
his  servants  on  no  uncertain  mission.  In  human  gov- 
ernments, that  army  will  struggle  most  valiantly  which 
has  implicit  confidence  in  the  competency  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  direct  its  affairs,  and  its  ability  to  execute 
its  purposes.  Calvinism  enthrones  God  in  his  sover- 
eign omnipotence,  controlling  alike  the  worlds  which 
revolve  in  their  orbits  and  the  mote  which  floats  in 
the  sunbeam,  directing  all  the  events  of  the  universe 
according  to  a  divinely  appointed  plan,  arranged  in 
the  councils  of  eternity. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  His  subjects,  persuaded  that 
they  are  executing  the  designs  of  God  himself,  toil  in 
the  strength  born  of  the  conviction  that  though  their 
immediate  designs  may  fail,  and  they  themselves 
perish,  yet  God  himself  lives  and  reigns,  and  will  in 
His  own  sovereign  wisdom  and  appointed  time  bring 
to  pass  His  purposes  of  grace?  Missions  may  chal- 
lenge their  faith,  and  make  unrelenting  draughts  on 
their  resources  and  activities ;  but  what  matters  it,  if 
it  be  the  sovereign  purpose  of  God? 

Distrust  of  self  would  ordinarily  weaken  and  par- 
alyze all  effort,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  such 
distrust  flings  the  soul  back  upon  God  in  its  weakness, 
and  by  an  abiding  faith  in  Him,  obtains  a  strength  that 
is  invincible.  "When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong," 
is  the  paradox  of  Calvinism.  Will  the  impulsive,  spas- 
modic zeal,  springing  from  self-confidence  and  reliance 
on  human  means,  stand  the  strain  of  long-continued 
effort  so  well  as  one  who  makes  God  his  confidence,  and  < 
"endures  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible"?  The  firm 
conviction,  that  we  rest  not  on  human  but  divine  effi- 
ciency, gives  stability  to  our  vacillating  efforts,  ancj  ' 


140  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

makes  us  strong  by  the  mighty  hands  of  the  God  of 
Jacob.  These  "shall  mount  up  on  wings  as  eagles, 
they  shall  run  and  not  be  weary,  and  they  shall  walk 
and  not  faint,"  in  the  Herculean  task  of  bringing  the 
world  to  Christ. 

Not  simply  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  belief  in 
the  divine  sovereignty,  does  Calvinism  thus  evince  its 
superiority  as  a  potent  influence  in  world-wide  evangel- 
ization, but  it  is  equally  evident  from  the  human  stand- 
point of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints.  If  the  stereo- 
typed objection  to  Calvinism  were  true,  that  it  is  cold, 
calculating,  lacking  in  fervor,  it  would  be  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  steady,  persistent,  unflinching, 
perseverance  of  an  undaunted  faith,  which  holds  on  the 
even  tenor  of  its  way  in  the  face  of  opposition,  despite 
difficulties  and  discouragements,  till  it  wrings  victory 
out  of  defeat.  The  fevered  brain  may  produce  momen- 
tarily an  unnatural  strength,  born  of  delirium ;  but 
will  it  endure  the  trials  and  press  on  in  the  race  with 
the  steady  gait  of  one  in  the  full  possession  of  robust 
health  ? 

Calvinism  finds  its  analogy,  not  in  the  whirlwind 

of  impetuosity,   not   in   the  fire   of  religious   fanaticism, 

I  nor  in  ^le  earthquake  of  spasmodic  upheavals,  but  in 

!  the  "still   small  voice"  that  speaks  conviction  in  the 

'  silent  depths  of  the  soul.    If,  in  the  sphere  of  missions, 

failure  and  disaster  overtake  his  best  efforts,  and  suc- 

^cess  be  long  delayed,  the  Calvinist  undeterred  sees  in 

the   analogy   of   nature   how   slowly   and    silently   she 

elaborates  the  best  and  grandest  results  of  her  mighty 

plan  by  gradual  processes  and  takes  comfort  in  the 

thought,  that  in  the  Kingdom  of  Grace,  God  works  by 

the  same  methods  and  executes  His  largest  purposes  by 

the  steady,  irresistible  perseverance  of  the  saints,  re- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  141 

tnembering  that  though  "the  Kingdom  of  God  cometh 
not  with  observation,"  it  comes  none  the  less  surely. 

Tested  by  practical  results,  will  an  appeal  to  the 
history  of  missions  justify  this  contention,  that  the 
principles  of  Calvinism  pre-eminently  qualify  its  adhe- 
rents for  leadership  in  evangelizing  the  world? 

Among  the  Reformers,  who  led  the  way  of  Protes- 
tantism in  the  first  missionary  venture,  but  the  Calvin- 
ists  of  Geneva?  Who  penetrated  first  the  trackless 
forests  of  the  New  World,  carrying  the  Gospel  to  its 
untamed  savages,  but  Brainerd  and  Eliot?  Who  led 
the  modern  missionary  movement,  which  is  awakening 
all  Christendom  to  the  task  of  making  Christ  known 
throughout  the  wide  world?  If  the  roll  were  called 
of  the  Calvinists  who  have  led  the  advancing  hosts  of 
the  Church,  in  its  attack  on  heathenism,  it  would  in- 
clude well-nigh  all  the  great  names  of  history  con- 
spicuous for  missionary  enthusiasm  and  achievement. 
Time  would  fail  to  enumerate  William  Carey,  Henry 
Martyn,  David  Livingstone,  Robert  Moffatt,  Alexander 
Dufif,  Adoniram  Judson,  Robert  Morrison,  John  h. 
Paton,  John  Leighton  Wilson,  William  H.  Sheppard,  ; 
and  a  vast  host  of  others,  who  "through  faith  subdued 
kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises, 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  ! 
fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness  ! 
were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight",  etc.  \ 

According  to  Dr.  Moses  D.  Hoge,  "the  first  mis-  / 
sionary  since  the  Reformation  sent  forth  by  any  church 
in  its  corporate  capacity,  and  ordained  to  labor  in  the 
foreign  field,  was  Alexander  Duff  (commissioned  by 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland),  whose  name 
stands  as  a  synonym  of  whatever  is  heroic,  self- 
sacrificing  and  saintly  in  missionary  character  and 
achievement." 


142  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

At  the  meeting  of  the  AlHance  in  Glasgow,  Prof. 
Lindsay  informed  that  august  and  venerable  body,  rep- 
resenting the  larger  part  of  the  Calvinistic  forces  of 
the  world,  that,  "The  Presbyterian  churches  do  more 
than  a  fourth  of  the  whole  mission  work  among  the 
heathen  that  is   done  by  all  the   Protestant  churches 
together,"   and   mentioning   three   of   the   greatest   de- 
fnominations,  asserted  that,  "The  Presbyterian  Church 
[is   doing  more  in   the  foreign   field   than   all   of   them 
'combined." 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Presbyterian  Alliance, 
representatives  of  the  Eastern  Section  of  the  Ecumen- 
ical Methodist  Conference  appeared  and  made  a  most 
cordial  and  pleasing  address,  expressing  their  fraternal 
good  will  and  appreciation  of  our  principles  and  work 
in  the  following  complimentary  language : 

"Taking  the  world  over,  Presbyterianism  in  the 
future  must  be  looked  to  as  one  of  the  greatest  and 
most  beneficent  forces  for  the  conversion  and  evan- 
gelization of  the  generations  of  mankind  on  every  con- 
tinent. We  do  unfeignedly  rejoice  as  we  behold  your 
goodly  array  of  churches,  giving  the  noblest  of  their 
sons,  and  consecrating  their  vast  resources  of  learning 
and  wealth  to  the  greatest,  the  mightiest  of  all  enter- 
prises, the  conversion  of  the  world  to  Christ,"  and  the 
address  closes  with  the  prayer  that  our  "cherished 
ideal  of  'a  free  church  in  a  free  state'  shall  in  every 
nation  under  heaven  be  an  accomplished  fact,  and  every 
citizen  be  taught  that  the  chief  end  of  man  is  to  glorify 
God  and  enjoy  Him  forever." 

Is  not  the  wisdom  of  Calvinism  justified  by  the  mis- 
sionary achievements  of  its  children? 

4.  In  conclusion,  it  is  Calvinism  which  furnishes 
the   only   guarantee   of   the   ultimate   triumph   of   the 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  143 

Gospel  in  extending  the  sceptre  of  Christ,  till  "The 
kingdoms  of  the  world  shall  become  the  Kingdoms  of 
our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ."  Others  may  indulge  a 
well-grounded  hope  based  upon  an  abiding  faith  ;  but 
Calvinism  plants  itself  on  "The  sure  word  of  pro- 
phesy," and  maintains  that  the  conversion  of  the  world 
is  one  of  "The  eternal  decrees  of  God,"  revealed  as 
"Foreordained  for  his  own  glory,"  and  must  therefore 
surely  "come  to  pass."  It  has  been  prophesied,  "that 
at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow  .  .  .  and 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lora 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father,"  and  it  could  not  be 
prophesied  unless  it  had  been  predestinated  ;  for  con- 
tingent and  doubtful  events  cannot  be  prophesied. 
Prophecy  is  always  and  everywhere  based  on  predes- 
tination, and  not  upon  mere  fore-knowledge;  for  pro- 
phecy is  fore-knowledge  revealed,  which  presupposes 
the  event,  as  a  fixed  and  unchangeable  decree. 

The  Son  of  God,  in  the  2nd  Psalm,  encourages  him- 
self in  the  predestined  triumph  of  His  Kingdom :  "I 
will  declare  the  decree,  the  Lord  said  unto  me.  Thou 
art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  Thee.  Ask  of 
me,  and  I  will  give  Thee  the  heathen  for  Thine  inheri- 
tance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  Thy 
possession."  Let  the  heathen  rage,  and  the  world  in 
arms  combine ;  let  the  evil  powers  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Darkness  assault  the  Citadel  of  Faith  ;  let  all  worlds 
join  in  a  universal  rebellion  against  the  Lord  of  Glory; 
nevertheless  the  eternal  decree  shall  stand ;  for  "He 
that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall  laugh  ;  the  Lord  shall 
have  them  in  derison."  The  Lord  God  Omnipotent 
proclaims  from  His  eternal  throne  in  the  heavens :  "Yet 
have  I  set  my  King  on  my  holy  hill  of  Zion,"  and  that 
King,  though  still  uncrowned  and  at  the  moment  in 


144  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  even  with  the  cross  con- 
fronting Him,  could  yet  declare,  "Upon  this  Rock  I 
will  build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it," 

One  of  the  ablest  bishops  of  America  recently  pub- 
lished, over  his  own  signature,  in  the  daily  press,  this 
statement:  "The  world  will  either  be  all  pagan  or  all 
Christian ;  I  believe  it  will  be  all  Christian."  A  thor- 
ough Calvinist  could  not  have  consistently  indicted 
that  statement.  Planting  himself  on  the  sure  word  of 
Prophesy,  which  grounds  itself  in  predestination,  he 
would  have  announced :  "I  know  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved." "He  shall  have  dominion  also  from  sea  to  sea, 
and  from  the  river  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

No  one  will  dispute  the  assertion  of  the  author  of 
"The  Creed  of  Presbyterians,"  "That  friends  and  foes 
alike  award  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  its  wreath 
of  thorns,  or  its  diadem  of  glory,  the  distinction  of 
being  the  world's  historic  and  leading  representative 
of  the  creed  of  Calvinism."  Is  that  the  explanation 
also  of  the  fact  that  in  missions,  "It  has  always  led 
the  van  of  the  advancing  hosts  of  God?" 

After  quotations  showing  that,  "The  largest  Protea- 
tant  family  in  the  world  is  the  Presbyterian,"  in  elo- 
quent language  Dr.  Smith  gives  a  grand  summary  of 
her  missionary  achievements :  "More  catholic  and  im- 
posing even  than  the  Presbyterian  numbers  is  the 
world-wide  range  of  the  Presbyterian  empire.  While 
the  adherents  of  other  Protestant  communions  are 
more  or  less  massed  in  single  countries,  the  Lutherans 
in  Germany,  the  Episcopalians  in  England,  the  Metho- 
dists and  Baptists  in  the  United  States,  the  line  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  is  gone  out  through  all  the 
earth.   She  thrives  this  hour  in  more  continents,  among 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  145 

a  greater  number  of  nations,  and  peoples,  and  lan- 
guages, than  any  other  evangelical  church  in  the  world. 
As  her  witnesses  in  Continental  Europe,  she  has  the 
historic  Presbyterian  Reformed  Churches  of  Austria, 
Bohemia,  Galacia,  Moravia,  Hungary,  Belgium,  France, 
Germany,  Italy,  Greece,  the  Netherlands,  of  Russia, 
and  Switzerland,  and  Spain.  She  is  rooted  and  fruitful 
in  Africa,  in  Australia,  in  Asia,  in  Great  Britain,  in 
North  America,  in  South  America,  in  the  West  Indies, 
in  New  Zealand,  in  Melanesia, — the  people  of  this  faith 
and  order  gird  the  earth.  Presbyterianism  possesses 
a  power  of  adaptation  unparalleled  by  any  other  sys- 
tem. It  holds  in  steadfast  array  a  great  part  of  the 
intelligence  and  moral  vigor  of  the  Christian  world, 
and  from  its  abounding  spiritual  life  are  going  forth 
the  mighty  forces  of  Christian  missions  into  all  the 
heathen  world." 

That  was  not  a  vain-glorious  boast  of  the  American 
Presbyterian  Church  in  its  report  to  the  Alliance  of 
Reformed  Churches :  "The  missionary  heralds  of  our 
Pan-American  Presbyterianism  alone,  which  is  but  a 
branch  of  the  catholic  Presbyterian  Church,  are  scat- 
tered from  British  Columbia  to  Ucatan ;  they  are  in 
Central  America,  and  in  Columbia ;  Venezuela,  British 
Guiana,  and  Brazil ;  they  on  the  African  Coast,  from 
Liberia  to  the  Ogowe,  and  in  the  heart  of  the  great 
Congo  Basin ;  they  are  strong  in  Syria  and  Persia,  and 
side  by  side  in  India  our  separate  columns  are  advanc- 
ing under  one  Captain  ;  we  are  proclaiming  glad  tidings 
in  Siam  and  Laos,  in  Hainan  and  the  Philippines,  in 
Cuba  and  Formosa ;  we  have  long  since  'partitioned 
China,'  not  for  political  spoil,  but  for  her  own  salva- 
tion ;  our  united  forces  are  teaching  the  Hermit  Nation 
that,  as  no  man,  so  no  nation,  liveth  to  itself;  we  have 


146  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

proclaimed  to  the  Sunrise  Kingdom  the  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness, whose  rising  shall  know  no  setting.  Our 
strategic  points  are  taken,  our  stations  occupied,  our 
watch  towers  girdle  the  globe." 

This  is  the  400th  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  John 
Calvin — scholar,  author,  teacher,  philosopher,  states- 
man, theologian,  reformer,  and,  according  to  Ernest 
Renan,  "the  most  Christian  man  of  his  generation." 
No  man  has  been  more  misunderstood,  misrepresented, 
villified.  What  is  to  be  the  outcome  of  this  world- 
wide, quadricentennial  celebration?  Will  the  thought 
of  mankind  re-examine  his  teaching  and  spirit,  and  yet 
accord  him  substantial  though  tardy  justice?  Will  he 
at  last  come  into  his  own  ?  Will  the  world  of  thought 
revivify  a  system,  which  turned  the  current  of  cen- 
turies out  of  its  channel,  destroyed  despotism,  broke 
the  yoke  of  oppression,  created  modern  civilization, 
and  rescued  the  Church  from  dead  forms  and  ushered  in 
the  largest  spiritual  life? 

Is  there  to  be  a  revival  of  Calvinism  under  the 
life-giving  breath  of  the  Spirit  of  God?  Will  the  Cal- 
vinism of  the  first  century,  which  triumphed  over 
paganism  backed  by  the  power  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  "turned  the  world  upside  down,"  be  paralleled  in 
a  twentieth  century  evangelism  rivaling  apostolic 
times?  Will  the  revival  of  Calvinism  be  the  signal  for 
the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Gospel?  Will  the  renewal 
of  its  youth  and  virile  power  manifest  itself  in  the 
dream  of  present-day  Christianity,  "The  evangelization 
of  the  world  in  this  generation"? 

May  the  glad  shout  of  a  redeemed  world  speedily 
resound  to  the  embattlements  of  heaven :  "Hallelujah, 
for  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth" ;  and  may 
heaven  and  earth  unite  in  "bringing  forth  the  royal 
diadem  to  crown  Him  Lord  of  All."    Amen  and  Amen. 


President  GEORCiE  H.  Denny, 
Washington  and  Lee  University. 


CALVIN'S  INFLUENCE   ON    EDUCA- 
TIONAL PROGRESS. 


By  President  George  H.  Denny, 
JVasIiiiigton  and  Lee  University,  Lexington,  Va. 

John  Calvin  was  an  organizing  genius  of  the  first 
rank.  Upon  the  altar  of  that  kind  of  genius,  provided 
it  is  devoted  to  great  ends,  fame  is  apt  to  burn  its  in- 
cense. That  the  genius  of  Calvin  was  devoted  to  great 
ends  is  no  longer  a  question  of  debate  among  thinking 
men.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  modern  world  in  esti- 
mating his  fame  is  inclined  to  picture  him  chiefly,  if  not 
solely,  as  the  organizer  of  a  great  system  of  theology  or 
as  the  apostle  of  a  great  movement  that  was  destined 
to  give  to  a  weary  world  civil  and  religious  freedom. 
But  this  myriad-minded  and  myriad-hearted  man  did 
more  than  that.  His  organizing  genius  grappled  with 
another  vital  problem  upon  which  human  gratitude  has 
failed  to  lay  the  emphasis  that  it  deserves.  I  refer  to 
his  contribution  to  educational  progress.  Indeed,  so  little 
emphasis  has  been  placed  upon  this  phase  of  his  work 
that  it  is  difficult  to  find  any  literature*  at  all  that  even 
attempts  to  deal  with  it.    So  far  as  I  know,  no  elaborate 

*  Special  assistance  has  been  secured  from  the  following 
sources :  Kuper's  Lectures  on  Calvanisni;  Walker's  John  Calvin; 
Smith's  Creed  of  Presbyterians;  Westminster  Addresses,  Char- 
lotte, 1897;  McPhcrson,  Presbyterianism  and  Education  in  the 
Centennial  Addresses,  Philadelphia,  1888;  Morris,  Presbyterian- 
ism and  Edtication  in  the  Proceedings  Second  General  Council, 
Philadelphia,  1880. 


148  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

and  exhaustive  discussion  of  Calvin's  relation  to  modern 
education  has  yet  been  undertaken.  It  will,  therefore, 
be  understood  that  I  approach  my  task  with  the  utmost 
hesitation.  Surely,  I  do  not  claim  to  speak  with  final  au- 
thority. 

That  Calvinism  and  education  are  intimately  asso- 
ciated in  fact,  as  well  as  in  theory,  is  to  be  the  thesis 
of  our  present  argument.  Indeed,  this  intimacy  of  as- 
sociation is  such  that  it  has  long  been  true  that  the  mere 
mention  of  the  one  has  served  to  bring  to  mind  the  other. 
The  church  of  Calvin  has  taken  high  rank  as  the  church 
of  education.  Wherever  Calvinism  has  gone,  it  has  car- 
ried the  school  with  it.  It  has  been  the  sturdy  champion 
of  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  training  in  all  its 
phases, — from  early  childhood  to  mature  manhood, — in 
the  home,  in  the  Sabbath-school,  in  the  grammar  school, 
in  the  high  school,  in  the  college,  in  the  university,  and 
in  the  great  training  school  of  mature  life  and  ex- 
perience. Its  critics  have  charged  that  it  has  emphasized 
a  partial  and  particular  training,  with  special  reference  to 
theology.  That  is  not  a  true  charge.  Calvin  did  perhaps 
think  of  theology  as  modern  men  think  of  a  great  light- 
house. He  recognized,  too,  that  those  who  "fill  its  lamps 
and  trim  its  wicks"  must  be  skilled  workmen.  But, 
in  recognizing  this,  he  never  forgot  that  a  light-house  is 
constructed,  not  for  the  purpose  of  giving  employment  to 
the  few  who  are  adjusting  its  machinery,  but  primarily 
for  the  'purpose  of  lending  its  signal  to  the  multitude  of 
vessels  adrift  upon  the  seas.  Calvinism  has,  therefore, 
stood  for  the  broadest  and  soundest  training  the  world 
has  ever  known.  While  many  of  these  very  critics  have 
themselves  been  championing  some  narrow  theory  that 
would  limit  education  to  a  mere  fraction  of  man's  per- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  149 

sonality,  the  voice  of  Calvinism  has  been  heard  boldly 
insisting  upon  the  education  of  the  zvhole  man,  in  the 
entire  circumference  of  his  possibilities,  and  not  simply 
along  lines  that  will  guarantee  a  larger  money  value  when 
taken  out  into  the  market  of  professional  or  mercan- 
tile life.  It  is  true  that  Calvin's  plea  for  education  did 
not  rest  merely  upon  the  flimsy  fact  that  it  contributes 
to  man's  capacity  for  passionate  gain-getting.  His  plea 
for  education  rested  upon  the  sterner  fact  that  it  may  be 
made  to  contribute  to  that  richest  and  most  potential  asset 
in  the  high  life  of  any  nation — character  and  conscience. 
"We  boast,"  says  Bancroft,  "of  our  common  schools. 
Calvin  was  the  father  of  popular  education — the  inventor 
of  the  system  of  free  schools."  Whether  or  not  that  is 
true,  it  is  an  historical  fact  that  Calvin,  following  Luther, 
gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  popular  education.  It  is  an 
historical  fact  that  the  stream  of  influence  that  flowed 
from  Geneva,  through  Scotland  and  Holland,  to  this 
country,  was  by  far  the  strongest  factor  in  establishing 
the  American  common  school  system.  It  was  also  the 
leading  force  in  founding  colleges,  seminaries  and  aca- 
demies of  learning  for  the  first  two  centuries  of  our  na- 
tional life.  Calvin  himself  made  this  work  the  crowning 
achievement  of  his  large,  spacious  life.  The  founding  of 
the  Academy  of  Geneva  meant  to  him  "the  final  step  to- 
ward the  realization  of  a  Christian  commonwealth."  He 
held  that  the  best  method  by  which  to  preserve  purity 
in  religion  was  to  enlighten  the  understanding  of  men. 
It  is  not  our  present  purpose  to  trace  the  exact  origin 
or  to  review  the  exact  history  of  the  great  educational 
movement  of  Calvin's  day.  Certainly,  high  honor  is 
due  to  Luther,  whose  name  is  a  synonym  of  a  world-wide 
revolution  in  education,  and  to  Melancthon  who  came  to 


150  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

be  known  as  the  "preceptor  of  Germany,"  to  say  nothing 
of  Zvvingli,  Knox  and  others,  who  enriched  and  ennobled 
the  higher  hfe  of  that  day  by  their  devotion  to  the  ideal 
of  sound  learning.  But  it  was  Calvin  who  first  gave  "a 
local  habitation  and  a  name"'  to  this  mighty  impulse.  It 
was  Calvin's  genius  and  sacrifice  that  first  gave  to  it 
organization  and  system.  While  others  were  delaying 
definite  action,  for  lack  of  funds,  and  a  cold  world  was 
exclaiming,  then  as  now,  "Silver  and  gold  I  have  none," 
Calvin  was  establishing  a  great  school  and  summoning 
his  fellowmen  "to  rise  up  and  walk."  It  is  just  here  that 
the  work  of  Calvin  stands  supreme.  It  is  just  here  that 
his  great  constructive  mind  and  his  superb  executive 
genius  flowered  into  full  bloom.  In  establishing  a  system 
of  education,  he  did  another  thing  also  that  will  never 
hinder  his  reward.  He  established  once  for  all  that  view 
of  education  which  makes  God  the  central  sun  around 
which  must  revolve  every  system  of  human  thought  and 
every  scheme  of  human  training. 

We  shall  now  undertake  to  cite  some  of  the  specific 
things  that  have  determined  the  influence  of  Calvin  on 
education,  and  to  assess  at  its  true  value  the  contribution 
he  has  made  to  educational  progress. 

I.  /  submit  that  the  system  of  doctrine  formulated  by 
Calvin  has  constituted  a  pozverful  factor  in  educational 
progress.  It  may  be  fairly  questioned  whether  any  sys- 
tem of  theology  has  ever  made  so  profound  an  impression 
upon  thoughtful  men.  Certainly,  none  has  more  insis- 
tently involved  the  logical  necessity  of  mental  discipline 
or  more  insistently  demanded  the  spread  of  learning. 
Calvinism  reaffirmed  the  spirit  of  the  Pauline  theology 
on  which  it  fed  and  once  more  proclaimed  the  fact  that 
religion  is  not  confined  to  the  feelingr  or  to  the  will.     It 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  151 

laid  a  profound  emphasis  of  Christian  intcUigence.  It 
insisted  that  man  must  love  God,  not  only  with  his  whole 
heart,  but  also  zcith  his  zvholc  mind.  Calvin  held  that  "a 
true  faith  must  be  an  intelligent  faith."  He  understood 
that  the  acceptance  and  the  diffusion  of  his  scheme  of 
doctrine  must  inevitably  depend,  not  only  upon  the  train- 
ing of  the  men  who  were  to  expound  it,  but  also  upon  the 
intelligence  of  the  great  masses  of  humanity  who  were 
to  accept  it. 

The  doctrinal  scheme  of  Calvin  has  historically  and 
habitually  created  and  demanded  intellectual  manhood. 
The  system  itself  has  been,  immediately  and  directly,  a 
great  instrument  of  intellectual  discipline,  bringing  into 
requisition  all  literature,  all  science  and  all  philosophy. 
Wherever  it  has  been  properly  expounded,  it  has  been 
a  mighty  factor  in  stimulating  thought  and  intelligence 
among  the  people.  But  its  larger  educational  influence 
has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  it  requires,  for  its  accept- 
ance and  diffusion,  mental  discipline  and  intellectual  cul- 
ture. This  fact  pledged  not  only  Calvin  himself,  but 
also  every  man  who  accepted  the  system  and  believed 
that  it  embraced  divine  truth,  to  the  policy  of  educating 
the  masses  of  the  people.  No  man  can  estimate  to  what 
extent  modern  educational  progress  is  the  fruit  of  Cal- 
vin's credal  statement,  even  if  it  has  perhaps  "smacked 
of  a  certain  surcness  of  opinion  and  passion  for  its  sort 
of  truth." 

Such  majestic  themes  as  the  doctrine  of  the  absolute 
sovereignty  of  God,  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  decrees, 
the  doctrine  of  the  total  depravity  of  the  human  race,  and 
the  doctrine  of  the  necessity  of  the  regeneration  of  the 
Spirit, — all  of  them  bitterly  assailed  from  Calvin's  day  to 
the  present  time, — invite  and  summon  the  best  powers 


152  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

of  mental  discipline  and  intellectual  culture.  Calvin  un- 
derstood the  logic  of  the  situation.  He  saw  that,  if  his 
system  was  to  gain  a  foot-hold,  it  was  necessary  to  train 
the  masses.  He  saw  that  it  would  require  mental  train- 
ing to  master  such  problems  and  to  trace  them  out  to  all 
that  they  logically  involve. 

The  church  of  Calvin,  therefore,  has  been  a  teaching 
church.  It  has  flourished  as  intelligence  has  flourished. 
It  has  declined  as  intelligence  has  declined.  If  every 
system  of  truth  has  its  educational  influence,  certainly 
a  system,  like  that  of  Calvin,  which  makes  the  strongest 
possible  appeal  to  the  human  reason,  throws  its  battle 
lines  immeasurably  farther  into  the  enemy's  territory 
than  a  system  characterized  by  less  logical  clearness  of 
thought  and  less  logical  precision  of  statement.  The  day 
has  long  since  passed  when  any  critic  of  respectable  repu- 
tation would  dare  question  the  fact  that  Calvin's  system 
of  theology  has  trained  a  sturdy  race  of  thinkers.  What- 
ever else  it  has  done,  it  has  laid  stress  on  mental  dis- 
cipline. It  has  been  a  foe  to  popular  ignorance,  and 
it  has  given  incentive  and  inspiration  to  intellectual 
progress  wherever  it  has  gone. 

2.  /  submit  that  the  system  of  church  polity  (and 
incidentally  of  civil  government)  for  which  Calvin  con- 
tended, especially  in  its  fully  developed  Presbyterian 
form,  has  exerted  a  tremendous  influence  in  the  spread 
of  popular  intelligence  and  universal  education.  Calvin 
held  that  the  church,  under  God,  is  a  spiritual  republic. 
In  spite  of  a  personal  aristocratic  bias  and  a  tempera- 
mental antagonism  to  a  pure  democracy,  it  still  remains 
that,  by  the  application  of  his  fundamental  principle  of 
the  equality  of  all  men  before  God,  the  logic  of  his  con- 
tention was  that,  in  an  ideal  sense,  the  will  of  the  people 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  153 

is  the  source  of  authority ;  that  ultimate  power  rests 
with  the  people  who  are  responsible  to  God  alone. 

It  is  easy  to  infer  the  inevitable  effect  of  Calvin's 
contention  in  these  matters  upon  the  education  of  the 
masses.  Such  a  contention  naturally  shook  the  whole 
civil,  social  and  religious  world  to  the  centre.  The  logic 
of  his  position  irresistibly  led  to  popular  training.  If 
the  people  are,  under  God,  sovereign,  it  is.  clear  that  the 
people,  in  Calvin's  view,  must  be  educated.  Otherwise, 
he  was  planning  to  live,  and  to  cause  the  church  to  live, 
under  an  ignorant  sovereign.  So  also  popular  liberty, 
based  upon  religious  liberty,  if  it  means  anything  at  all, 
means  training  in  the  rights  and  duties  of  freemen.  Thus 
the  church  of  Calvin,  from  the  beginning,  has  consti- 
tuted one  of  the  most  effective  instruments  in  the  cam- 
paign of  education.  The  genius  of  its  polity,  as  well  as 
the  character  of  its  creed,  has  been  one  of  the  foremost 
factors  in  inaugurating  modern  programs  for  the  train- 
ing of  the  masses. 

We  have  seen  that  through  Calvin  flowed  the  in- 
fluence that  established  the  great  common-school  system 
of  our  own  country.  When  the  people  sit  as  the  court 
of  final  appeal,  the  education  of  the  masses  rises  above 
any  mere  question  of  philanthropy  or  of  expediency.  It 
becomes  a  question  of  law  and  order.  It  becomes  a 
question  of  the  vitality  and  stability  of  constitutional 
government,  whether  in  church  or  in  state.  It  becomes 
a  question  of  the  integrity  of  democratic  rule  where- 
ever  it  is  found.  The  education  of  the  people  is  the  in- 
exorable logic  of  the  Calvinistic  program,  which  has 
wrought  out  for  the  modern  world  the  best  features  of 
its  educational  creed.  Education  is  the  weapon  with 
which  to  arm  every  warrior  who  in  this  conflict  would 


154  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

contend  for  the  individual  freedom  for  which  Calvin 
fought.  If  the  people  are  to  rule,  let  them  not  be  fed 
on  the  husks  of  a  shallow  discipline,  but  provide  for 
them  "bread  enough  and  to  spare"  that  they  may  be 
trained  to  the  high  task  of  self-government.  For  no 
government  will  be  better  than  the  people  deserve  and 
are  able  to  maintain. 

3.  /  submit  that  tJie  form  of  worship  and  the  system 
of  religious  instruction  of  ivhich  Calvin  zvas  so  stout  a 
champion  have  fostered  popular  intelligence  and  pro- 
moted educational  progress.  The  emphasis  upon  the 
didactic  feature  in  church  worship  and  the  catachetical 
method  in  religious  instruction,  characteristic  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  scheme,  have  been  conspicuous  factors  in  the  de- 
velopment of  a  sturdy  and  intelligent  faith.  They  have 
played  an  important  role  in  the  mental  discipline  of  all 
who  have  felt  the  touch  of  their  influence.  That  sound 
mental  training  has  resulted  from  the  catachetical  method 
of  instruction,  for  which  Calvin  contended,  is  too  ob- 
vious to  require  discussion.  Of  scarcely  less  import- 
ance is  the  didactic  element  in  church  worship.  The 
Calvinistic  form  of  worship  is  characterized  by  the  ut- 
most simplicity.  There  is  a  minimum  of  ceremony  and 
ritual.  From  the  beginning,  it  has  exalted  truth  to  the 
place  in  which  art  had  long  been  enthroned.  Calvin  in- 
sisted that  special  emphasis  should  be  laid  upon  the 
preaching  of  the  word  by  trained  men.  Preaching  was  to 
be  emphasized  as  an  important  part  of  worship  and  as 
an  essential  agency  in  the  religious  training  of  the  people. 
Calvinism  has  rigidly  stood  for  a  learned  ministry  by  men 
able  to  "rightly  divide  the  word  of  truth."  It  is  an  out- 
standing fact  that  instruction  in  the  truth  has  disting- 
uished its  pulpits  from  Calvin's  time  to  the  present.     It 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  155 

may  here  be  pertinently  remarked  that  "epochs  of  great 
intellectual  and  moral  cjuickening  have  almost  without 
exception  been  epochs  marked  by  great  preaching.  Such 
epochs  present  the  sermon  as  a  characteristic  form  of 
literature."  It  would  be  difficult  to  form  an  adequate 
conception  of  the  educational  power  of  the  pulpit.  It 
has  been,  directly  and  indirectly,  perhaps  the  most  potent 
single  factor  in  the  world's  intellectual  progress.  Calvin 
has  been  perhaps  its  foremost  champion.  He  saw  that, 
through  the  pulpit  and  the  training  school,  the  great  un- 
finished work  of  reaching  the  mind  and  the  heart  of  the 
world  w^as  to  be  accomplished.  He  believed  that  the 
tmth  addressed  to  the  reason  is  the  surest  medium  by 
which  to  awaken  the  conscience  of  men.  It  is  this  em- 
phasis upon  the  sermon  that  has  distinguished  the 
church  of  Calvin,  among  all  other  churches,  as  pre- 
eminently the  church  of  religious  training.  This  empha- 
sis not  only  directly  induced  intellectual  discipline,  but 
none  the  less  certainly  became  a  powerful  indirect  cause 
of  mental  culture.  The  untrained  human  mind  may  in- 
terest itself  in  ceremony  and  ritual;  but  it  is  evident 
that  the  Calvinistic  emphasis  upon  something  more  solid 
than  form  and  ceremony  must,  in  the  last  analysis,  de- 
pend for  its  vitality,  if  not  for  its  very  existence,  upon 
human  intelligence  and  human  training. 

4.  /  siibiiiit  that  the  character  or  quality  of  training 
which  Calvin  emphasised  has  pozverftilly  influenced  edii- 
tational  progress.  There  has  been  widespread  miscon- 
ception of  Calvin's  views  concerning  education.  It  has 
been  charged  that  his  sole  interest  in  education  was  from 
the  viewpoint  of  theology.  It  is  charged  that  his  ad- 
vocacy of  the  study  of  the  humanities  was  in  the  interest 
of  theology  alone ;  that  his  recognition  of  the  value  of 


156  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

training  in  language,  in  history,  in  philosophy  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  these  branches  of  study,  in  a  large  degree, 
acknowledge  theology  as  their  crown.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  has  been  charged  that  he  was  actually  hostile  to  science 
and  to  art. 

It  has,  however,  been  conclusively  shown*  that  Cal- 
vinism, so  far  from  being  hostile  to  science  and  art,  has 
actually  fostered  and  stimulated  them;  that  the  principle 
that  underlies  Calvinism  demands  and  creates  the  scien- 
tific spirit.  It  is  a  familiar  fact  that  Calvinism  raises,  at 
the  very  threshold  of  all  enquiry,  the  question  of  the 
origin,  the  relation,  and  the  destiny  of  all  that  exists.  It 
holds  that  the  universe,  so  far  from  being  the  sport  of 
chance  or  the  passive  issue  of  accident,  obeys  law  and 
order;  that  it  is  under  the  sway  of  unity,  stability  and 
order,  established  by  God  Himself.  It  proclaims  God's 
decree  as  the  foundation  and  origin  of  every  natural, 
moral  and  spiritual  law.  It  is  easy  to  understand  how 
such  a  scheme  of  philosophy  gave  a  new  impulse  to,  and 
created  a  new  love  for,  science.  It  is  also  true  that 
Calvinism,  by  means  of  its  dominating  principle  and  its 
doctrine  of  "common  grace,"  not  only  created  a  new  love 
for  science,  but  actually  restored  to  science  its  domain, — 
proclaiming  that  "there  is  nothing  either  in  the  life  of 
nature,  or  in  human  life  itself,  which  does  not  present  it- 
self as  an  object  worthy  of  scientific  investigation."  Cal- 
vinism, however,  did  more  than  merely  give  a  new  im- 
pulse to  science,  create  a  new  love  for  it,  and  restore 
to  it  its  domain.  It  also  advanced  its  indispensable 
liberty  and  delivered  it  from  unnatural  bonds.  It  restored 
the  long  surrendered  right  of  free  enquiry,  which  Calvin, 
according  to  Bancroft,  "pushed  to  its  utmost  verge."    It 


*  Kuyper :    Lectures  on  Calvinism. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  157 

announced  to  the  world  that  neither  the  imperial  crown 
nor  the  papal  tiara  would  be  allowed  "to  clip  its  wings 
or  to  wring  its  neck."  Finally,  it  was  Calvinism  that, 
having  emancipated  science,  pointed  the  way  to  a  solu- 
tion of  the  unavoidable  "scientific  conflict" — not  the  so- 
called  conflict  between  faith  and  science,  but  "the  conflict 
of  two  scientific  systems,  proceeding  from  two  kinds  of 
human  consciousness,  between  those  who  contend  that 
the  cosmos,  as  it  exists  to-day,  is  in  a  normal  condition 
and  those  who  contend  that  it  is  in  an  abnormal  con- 
dition." It  was  Calvinism  that  proclaimed  the  right  and 
the  liberty  of  each  man  to  build  science  from  the  premises 
of  his  own  consciousness, — yet,  at  the  same  time,  refus- 
ing the  scientific  name  to  any  man  who  dares  to  slip  behind 
his  work  any  whimsical  hypothesis  of  his  own  making 
or  to  draw  from  it  any  whimsical  conclusion  of  his  own 
fancy.  Calvin  saw  no  conflict  between  faith  and  science. 
There  is  no  such  conflict.  The  fact  that  a  man  is  not 
afraid  to  open  his  eyes  in  the  presence  of  nature  con- 
stitutes no  reason  in  the  view  of  Calvin  why  he  should 
be  ashamed  to  close  them  in  the  presence  of  God. 

Calvinism  has  stood  in  a  similar  friendly  relation  to 
art.  It  has  been  charged  that  Calvinism,  having  no  gen- 
eral art-style  of  its  own  and  depreciating  the  symbolic 
form  of  worship,  has  not  only  been  unappreciative  of  art, 
but  actually  hostile  to  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has 
fostered  art,  even  though  it  has  refused  to  embody  its 
religious  spirit  in  monuments  of  its  making.  Not  only 
this,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  "the  highest  interpretation  of 
the  nature  of  art  flows  from  the  Calvinistic  principle." 
Calvin  himself  encouraged  and  commended  the  lawful 
use  of  art.  He  held  that  "art  reveals  to  man  a  higher 
reality  than   is  offered  by  this   sinful   world" ;  that   art 


158  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

originated  with  God,  the  sovereign  Artist ;  that  it  is  not 
simply  the  product  of  our  own  phantasy,  nor  of  our  own 
subjective  perception,  that,  in  its  highest  conception  it 
has  an  objective  existence,  being  itself  the  ex- 
pression of  a  divine  perfection.  It  was  Calvin 
who,  by  "releasing  art  from  the  guardianship  and 
unjustified  tutelage  of  the  church,  first  recognized  the 
fact  that  it  had  reached  its  majority,"  and  first  insisted 
with  emphasis  that  "all  liberal  arts  are  gifts  of  God,"  not 
to  the  church  alone,  but  by  virtue  of  "common  grace" 
to  the  unregenerate  world  as  well.  It  is  not  enough  to 
say,  however,  that  Calvinism  emancipated  art ;  that  it 
demanded  for  it  strength  to  stand  on  its  own  feet,  and 
that  it  vigorously  sought  to  extend  its  branches  in  every 
direction.  It  did  more  than  that.  As  a  matter  of  histori- 
cal fact,  it  actually  advanced  the  development  of  the 
arts.  It  is  true  that  Calvinism  built  no  cathedrals,  no 
palaces,  and  no  amphitheatres.  But  it  is  also  true  that,  in 
literature,  in  painting  and  in  music,  Calvinism  disclosed 
to  art  an  entirely  new  world.  One  example  will  suffice. 
The  world  knows  that,  for  two  centuries,  the  Calvinistic 
Dutch  school  of  art  "pointed  the  way  to  all  the  nations 
for  new  conquests."  We  are  not  now  discussing  the 
dififerentiating  nature  of  Calvinistic  art.  It  is  sufficient 
for  our  present  purpose  to  claim  for  it  that  high  quality 
and  that  original  genius  which  is  its  due.  The  point  of 
special  emphasis  is  that,  so  far  from  being  hostile  to  art, 
as  has  been  charged,  it  has  been  the  patron,  the  foster- 
mother,  and  friend  of  that  which  is  best,  most  satisfying, 
and  most  uplifting  in  art  and  in  its  highest  develop- 
ment. 

Having  answered  thus  briefly  the  charge  that  Cal- 
vinism  lacks   catholicity    in   its    attitude   toward    certain 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  159 

realms  of  knowledge,  and  claiming  for  it,  not  only  high 
service,  but  also  initiative,  in  the  particular  directions  in 
which  its  enemies  have  charged  against  it  failure  and 
hostility,  we  are  now  prepared  to  say  that  Calvin's  great- 
est contribution  to  true  educational  progress,  as  we  con- 
ceive it,  lies  in  another  direction.  We  are  prepared  to 
express  the  conviction  that  the  greatest  service  which 
Calvin  was  permitted  to  render  mankind  through  educa- 
tion has  resulted  from  his  insistence  that  the  moral  and 
spiritual  training  of  men  is  entitled  to  take  precedence 
over  other  kind  of  training.  It  is  just  at  this  point  that 
Calvin's  influence  has  been  most  pronounced  and  vital  in 
the  past,  and  it  is  just  at  this  point  that  it  is  most  ur- 
gently needed  in  the  crisis  that  confronts  the  church 
to-day. 

So  far  from  being  a  matter  of  reproach,  it  is  to  the 
lasting  credit  of  Calvin  that  he  held  that  education, 
rightly  conceived,  must  have  in  view  the  elevation  of  the 
moral  nature  of  man.  This  means,  of  course,  that  educa- 
tion must  stand  for  character.  We  know  that  intellectual 
discipline  does  not  necessarily  involve  moral  training. 
This,  however,  does  not  mean  that  the  alternative  is  be- 
tween a  safe  ignorance  and  a  hazardous  knowledge. 
Ignorance  is  never  safe,  and  hazard  is  no  essential  of 
knowledge.  Yet,  we  know  that  training  may  not  only 
be  instrumental  in  making  a  "good  man  better,"  but  also 
in  making  a  "bad  man  worse."  We  know  that  there 
are  such  things  as  the  honorable  instinct  of  a  savage 
and  the  atrophied  conscience  of  a  prince.  Calvin  held 
that  sane  and  balanced  training  consists  not  merely  in 
the  exercise  of  the  reason,  the  memory  and  the  imagina- 
tion. He  had  sounded  the  depths  of  human  experience 
long  enough  and  intelligently  enough  to  know  that  the 


i6o  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

man  whose  soul  is  sordid  and  whose  conscience  is  un- 
responsive had  never  been  led  to  the  "tree  of  knowl- 
edge." 

We  have  fallen  upon  a  time  when  the  mad  desire 
for  fame  and  wealth  is  apt  to  blunt,  if  not  destroy,  the 
moral  sense  of  the  nation.  We  need  the  kind  of  training 
that  will  point  a  better  way.  "Be  poor  and  continue 
poor,"  wrote  a  dying  mother  to  her  son,  "while  others 
around  you  grow  rich  by  fraud  and  by  disloyalty.  Be 
without  place  or  power,  while  others  beg  their  way  up- 
ward. Bear  the  pain  of  disappointed  hopes,  while 
others  attain  the  accomplishment  of  theirs  by  flattery. 
Wrap  yourself  in  your  own  virtue.  Seek  a  friend  and 
daily  bread.  And  if  in  such  a  course  of  life  you  have 
grown  gray  with  unblenched  honor,  bless  God  and  die." 
That  type  of  manhood  is  the  nation's  need.  It  was  to 
supply  that  need  in  his  own  day  that  Calvin  fought  and 
sacrificed  in  the  last  years  of  his  life.  That  was  the 
crowning  task  to  which  he  set  himself.  He  never  lost 
that  vision  until  his  fading  life,  glorified  and  strengthened 
to  the  end,  had  pronounced  upon  it  a  final  benediction. 

It  is  being  urged  that  the  sense  of  honor  is  waning 
in  this  country.  Whenever  we  must  plead  guilty  to  this 
charge,  it  will  mean  that  we  have  stacked  away,  in  some 
unfrequented  museum,  as  a  useless  relic,  the  teaching 
and  the  ideal  of  Calvin,  who  insisted  as  strenuously  as 
any  man  could  insist  that  an  institution  of  learning  is  a 
place  which  should  train  not  only  the  intellect,  but  also 
the  character  and  the  conscience  of  men ;  who  recognized 
as  clearly  as  any  man  could  recognize  the  fatal  blunder 
of  turning  out  upon  the  world  a  great  host  of  college- 
trained  men,  to  constitute  an  aristocracy  of  knaves ;  who 
saw  as  clearly  as  any  man  could  see  that  the  most  bril- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  i6l 

liant  intellect  may  co-exist  with  moral  turpitude ;  that  the 
dagger  is  not  less  a  dagger  because  of  its  polished  blade 
and  its  jeweled  hilt;  that  education  without  character  is 
abnormal  and  abortive,  and  could  only  be  a  curse  to  man- 
kind. "Upon  what,"  exclaimed  a  great  pioneer  in  Ameri- 
can education,  "shall  be  based  the  training  of  the  Ameri- 
can college?"  I  answer,  upon  the  thesis  of  John  Cal- 
vin !  For  upon  that  thesis,  and  that  alone,  can  be  con- 
structed an  educational  fabric  that  will  enable  the  col- 
lege graduate  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  which  he  is 
expected  to  fashion  and  mold  that  it  is  not  heredity,  nor 
accident,  nor  intellect,  nor  circumstance,  but  character 
and  conscience  that  constitute  the  governing  force  of  na- 
tional and  personal  life. 

Calvin  also  held  that  the  main  thing  in  all  true  educa- 
tion, a  thing  never  to  be  lost  sight  of,  is  the  spiritual 
development  of  man.  This  theory  needs  a  new  emphasis 
in  this  day  of  the  apotheosis  of  mere  intellectual  culture 
when  vasts  multitudes  of  men  are  talking  the  flexible 
language  of  the  various  modern  systems  of  pseudo- 
religious  diplomacy.  Intellectual  culture  may  enable  a 
man  to  "weigh  the  stars  and  bridge  the  ocean."  It  may 
give  him  the  power  to  "foretell  the  path  of  the  whirl- 
wind" or  to  "calculate  the  orbit  of  the  storm."  But  Cal- 
vin knew  that  no  amount  of  intellectual  culture  could 
guarantee  that  God  moves  in  the  texture  and  the  fiber 
of  a  human  soul.  There  was  no  limping  in  Calvin's  logic. 
That  was  one  of  the  overwhelming  things  that  made  him 
great. 

Calvin  doubtless  foresaw  that  the  spirit  of  Pilate  would 
live  again  in  that  class  of  men  who  are  forever  asking, 
"What  is  the  truth?"  and  forthwith  attacking  every- 
thing that  challenges  their  intellectual  vanity.     Hap- 


102  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

pily,  he  did  not  foresee  that  these  attacks  would  be 
justified  as  a  mere  exercise  of  "academic  freedom." 
We  witness  to-day  the  strange  contention  that  it  is 
unreasonable  to  teach  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion  to  the  youth  of  our  country,  and  yet  that  it  is 
perfectly  reasonable  to  teach  doctrines  of  history,  sci- 
ence and  philosophy,  which  undermine  the  Christian 
faith.  That  is  the  kind  of  "academic  freedom"  whicn 
a  certain  modern  brand  of  "science"  defiantly  pro- 
claims. Of  course,  the  votaries  of  science  are  at  lib- 
erty to  put  nature  on  the  rack,  and,  having  so  done, 
they  are  at  liberty  to  torture  her  to  the  betrayal  of 
her  inmost  secrets.  But  it  is  a  different  matter,  when 
they  "rashly  rend  the  veil,"  and  presume  to  "enter  the 
Holy  of  Holies."  It  is  a  different  matter,  when  they 
make  bold  to  say  that  "God  is  merely  a  rotating  globe." 
It  is  a  different  matter,  when  they  "think  by  searching 
to  find  out  God,"  or  dream  of  "understanding  the  Al- 
mighty to  perfection."  It  is  a  different  matter  when 
they  undertake  to  apply  their  tests  and  solvents  to  the 
laws  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  These  are  the  things 
that  have  been  hidden  from  the  wise  and  the  foolish 
and  revealed  unto  babes. 

Calvin  did  a  great  work  when  he  emancipated  sci- 
ence from  the  unjustified  interference  of  the  church. 
It  seems  that  the  church  must  now  emancipate  itself 
from  the  unjustified  interference  of  "science."  A 
pseudo-science  is  insiduously  seeking  to  take  posses- 
sion of  some  of  its  colleges.  It  is  seeking  to  nail  to 
their  mastheads  flags  without  religious  color.  It  is 
demanding  that  there  shall  be  no  longer  any  open  and 
avowed  recognition  of  the  Eternal  as  the  most  impor- 
tant member  of  their  faculties  and  as  their  rightfu' 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  163 

head.  It  is  asserting  that,  after  all,  the  Calvinistic 
program  of  religious  training  is  "puerile  and  visionary 
and  narrow  and  useless."  What  shall  our  answer  be? 
Shall  we  give  up  the  battle?  Or  shall  we  join  the 
issue?  The  church  could  adopt  no  course  so  incon- 
ceivably fatuous  as  to  surrender  the  inmost  fortifica- 
tion in  the  line  of  her  defenses.  The  church  will  adopt 
no  such  course.  It  will  marshal  its  forces  for  this  su- 
preme struggle ;  and  to  this  crusade  we  may,  if  we 
will,  hear  the  clear  call  of  Calvin  summoning  us  to 
make  our  last  stand  for  that  kind  of  education  which, 
first  and  foremost,  recognizes  God  as  the  supreme  mo- 
tive and  the  supreme  end  of  every  scheme  of  training. 

5.  But,  it  zvill  be  asked,  zvhat  concrete  evidence  is 
there  to  shozu  that  Calvin's  influence  on  education  has 
actually  done  what  has  been  claimed  for  it?  Where  are 
the  visible  signs  of  this  influence,  in  addition  to  Cal- 
vin's acknowledged  contribution  to  the  inauguration  of 
the  modern  common  school  system?  Granting  that 
the  Calvinistic  scheme  of  doctrine  and  polity  and  form 
of  worship  have,  in  a  general  way,  caused  the  spread 
of  popular  intelligence,  and  granting  that  Calvinism, 
while  friendly  to  education  in  all  of  its  phases,  stands 
pre-eminently  for  that  type  of  moral  and  spiritual 
training  which  is  so  much  needed  in  modern  times — 
has  it,  in  any  definite  and  special  way,  succeeded  in 
influencing  educational  progress?  Has  the  church  of 
Calvin  undertaken  to  educate,  apart  from  the  imme- 
diate power  and  influence  of  its  doctrine,  its  polity,  and 
its  form  of  worship?  Has  its  educating  power  ex- 
tended beyond  the  home,  the  Bible  school,  and  the 
pulpit?  Has  it  actually  established  and  maintained 
schools  and  colleges? 


164  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

We  have  seen  that,  while  Calvinism  itself  educates, 
it  is  also,  on  the  other  hand,  in  a  special  way,  depend- 
ent on  education.  We  know  that  Calvin  himself, — one 
of  the  best  trained  men  of  his  day  in  language,  in  sci- 
ence, in  law,  in  philosophy,  and  in  theology, — crowned 
his  Genevan  work  by  founding  a  great  school,  the 
Academy  of  Geneva ;  that  this  school,  second  only  to 
the  Institutes,  became  the  dynamo  that  furnished  the 
electric  power  of  the  Calvinistic  ideal  and  spirit,  first 
to  France  and  Switzerland,  and  then  to  England,  to 
Scotland,  to  Holland,  to  Germany,  to  Italy,  and  in- 
directly to  our  own  country.  Here  was  an  institution 
whose  earnest  spirit  might  well  serve  as  a  model  for 
the  colleges  of  our  own  day  in  the  fundamental  par- 
ticular that  study,  and  not  college  life,  was  made  the 
object  of  chief  concern.  Calvin  had  no  theory  that 
the  college  life  should  be  allowed  to  swallow  up  the 
college  curriculum ;  that  the  college  life  should  be 
allowed  to  become  the  main  circus  instead  of  the  side- 
show ;  that  the  college  itself  should  be  allowed  to  be- 
come a  kind  of  country  club.  His  aim  was  to  send  out 
young  men  who  had  dreamed  dreams  and  seen  visions 
— young  men  who  had  connected  themselves  with  the 
dynamo  and  become  storage  batteries  charged  with 
power. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  from  the  very  beginning,  insti- 
tutions of  learning  have  followed  Calvinism  wherever 
it  has  gone.  "Wherever  Calvinism  gained  dominion," 
says  Bancroft,  "it  invoked  intelligence  for  the  people, 
and  in  every  parish  planted  the  common  school."  That 
statement  correctly  describes  the  entire  spirit  of  the 
Calvinistic  faith  and  propaganda.  I  shall  cite  one  fa- 
miliar and  matchless  example  of  this  spirit  by  recalling 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  165 

to  you  the  world-famous  siege  of  Leyden.  To  the 
heroic  survivors  of  that  siege,  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
in  recognition  of  their  patriotic  courage,  "offered  eithei 
a  reduction  of  taxes  or  the  establishment  of  a  school  of 
learning."  They  chose  the  school.  Their  Calvinistic 
faith  put  education  first,  and  money  second.  Thus  be- 
gan the  historic  University  of  Leyden.  That  is  the 
spirit  of  Calvinism  that  has  caused  it  to  establish 
schools  and  colleges  throughout  the  civilized  world. 
We  shall  not  pause  to  call  the  roll.  Statistics  are  a 
despair  to  a  speaker  and  a  terror  to  an  audience.  It  i& 
a  roll  of  honor  and  a  catalogue  of  achievement. 

But  we  may  be  permitted  here  to  say  that,  in  our 
own  country,  the  number  of  institutions  of  all  grades 
founded  or  controlled  or  maintained  by  men  of  the 
Calvinistic  name  and  affiliation  is  vastly  in  excess  of 
despair  to  a  speaker  and  a  terror  to  an  audience.  It  is 
not  generally  recalled  in  recent  years  that  the  ancient 
universities  of  Harvard  and  Yale,  as  well  as  Princeton, 
were  founded  by  Calvinists.  From  that  early  day, 
through  the  subsequent  period,  when  the  famous  "log- 
college"  rose  into  form  under  Calvinistic  influence,  un- 
til recent  years  when  colleges  of  almost  every  name 
and  faith  have  sprung  up  throughout  the  entire  nation, 
the  history  of  the  Calvinistic  faith  and  effort  in  this 
direction  has  been  characterized  by  the  most  honorable 
and  remarkable  record  of  any  church  in  the  world.  It 
constitutes  an  inspiring  and  brilliant  array  of  achieve- 
ments which,  in  spite  of  certain  present  discourage- 
ments, to  which  we  shall  in  a  moment  refer,  furnish 
ground  for  hope  and  inspiration  to  all  who  believe  in 
Christian  training  and  love  the  church  to  whose  creed 
and  life  Calvin  made  so  large  a  contribution. 


i66  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

6.  Finally,  let  us  enquire,  zvhat  arc  the  important 
lessons  and  duties  zuhich  such  an  educational  history  and 
such  an  educational  policy  impose  upon  us  in  the  present 
time,  and  especially  in  this  section  for  zvhich  zve  are  so 
largely  responsible f  There  is  no  question  that  the  Cal- 
vinistic  emphasis  upon  moral  and  spiritual  training  is 
as  sorely  needed  to-day  as  ever  before  in  the  history 
of  the  Christian  church.  There  is  also  no  question 
that  such  a  type  of  training,  from  the  viewpoint  of 
the  church,  has  found  its  most  fruitful  seed-plot  in  the 
Christian  college.  Unless  we  are  stupidly  blind,  we 
must  recognize  that  the  Christian  college  to-day  faces 
a  situation  that  will  put  to  a  final  test  its  power  to 
survive  in  the  historic  form  in  which  it  has  hitherto 
existed.  The  recent  rise  and  the  phenomenal  growth 
of  the  tax-supported  system  of  higher  education  brings 
squarely  into  the  arena  an  issue  that  must  be  met. 
There  is  in  many  quarters  a  constantly  growing  sen- 
timent, at  times  expressing  itself  in  a  demand,  that 
the  state  shall  be  permitted  to  do  the  entire  work  of 
training  our  youth,  theology  alone  being  excepted. 
Enormous  and  constantly  increasing  sums  of  money 
are  being  annually  appropriated  by  the  state  for  the 
maintenance  and  the  expansion  of  its  schools.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  a  normal  man  so  blind  that  he  can- 
not see  that  many  of  these  schools  are  destined  in  the 
next  quarter  of  a  century  to  witness  a  development  in 
equipment,  in  standard  of  scholarship  and  in  power  of 
achievement  that  will  challenge  the  wonder  of  the 
world. 

What  does  this  mean?  What  relation  has  it  ta 
the  problem  of  Christian  education?  Is  the  church 
ready  to  surrender  the   field?     These  are  vital   ques- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  167 

tions  that  go  to  the  heart  of  perhaps  the  most  serious 
problem  before  the  church  to-day.    If  a  rigid  emphasis 
upon    definite    Christian    training   is    essential    to    the 
life  of  the  church,  is  it  likely  that  there  will  be  a  less 
insistent  demand  for  such  training  in  the  future?    The 
state  is  wise  in  its  day.     It  is  doing  its  duty  to  edu- 
cation.    It  is  a  calumny  to  charge  that  a  Christian 
commonwealth  is  consciously  fostering  a  God-less  edu- 
cation.     In   some   of   these   institutions   the   Christian 
religion   is  a  matter  of  both  philosophy   and   feeling. 
But  the  state  professedly  does  not  in  all  cases  attempt 
to   guarantee   positive     Christian      training.       Certainly, 
that  is  the  logic  of  the  present-day  definition  of  reli- 
gious  liberty   in   certain   quarters.      Thus    we    see    reli- 
gious   training    in    many    localities    gradually    being 
forced  out  of  the  public  schools.     Here  and  there  we 
see  teachers  of  philosophy  dynamiting  the  citadel  oi 
orthodox  faith,  and  this  situation  is  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  tax-supported  college.     "If  we  console  our- 
selves," says  Kuyper,  "with  the  thought  we  may  with- 
out danger  leave   secular   science  in  the  hands  of  our 
opponents,  if  we  only  succeed  in  saving  theology,  ours 
will  be  the  tactics  of  the  ostrich.     To  confine  yourself 
to  the  saving  of  the  upper  room,  when  the  rest  of  the 
house  is  on  fire,  is  foolish  indeed."     Do  we  propose 
to  abandon  altogether  what  we  believe  to  be  the  true 
theory    of    education,    based    upon    positive    religious 
training,  to  a  theory  of  education  that  cannot,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  guarantee  to  do  this  work?     Shall 
we  agree  to  divorce  education   from   religion?     Shall 
we  say  that  Calvin  was  wrong  when  he  insisted  that 
"religion  should  never  retire  from  the  precinct  of  the 
human  intellect"  ?   Shall  we  say  that  Calvin  was  wrong 


1 68  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

when  he  insisted  that  the  Bible  should  be  enthroned 
as  the  true  basis  of  the  best  culture,  as  the  true  founda- 
tion of  the  best  individual  life,  as  the  true  charter  of 
the  best  national  liberty?  Shall  we  say  that  Calvin 
was  wrong  when  he  insisted  that  all  culture,  all  indi- 
vidual life,  all  national  liberty,  apart  from  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  Bible,  is  evanescent,  unsatisfying  and 
illusive?  To  the  policy  of  Christian  training,  the 
church  of  Calvin  is,  by  principle  and  by  conviction, 
irrevocably  pledged. 

There  has  been  in  this  country,  especially  in  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century,  a  "progressive  loosening"  of 
the  historic  alliance  between  Christianity  and  educa- 
tion.    It  is  true  that  powerful  influences  from  without 
the  church  are  hastening  this  tendency.     But  let  me 
ask  a  candid  reply  to  this  question:     Are  there  not 
still    more    powerful    negative    influences    within    the 
church  contributing  to  the  same  end?     Or,  to  put  it  in 
a  different  way,  has  there  been  a  sufficiently  powerful 
positive    influence    within    the    church    to    check    this 
movement?     I  know  that  it  is  charged  that  it  is  the 
college,   and   not   the   church,   that   is   responsible   for 
this  situation.     If  that  is  true,   let  me  ask:    Why  is 
the   college   seeking   this   divorce?     Does    not   the   real 
fault  lie,  in  the  final  analysis,  with  the  church  itself  i' 
I  have  frequently  heard  it  suggested  that  some  of  oui 
colleges  have  not  been  true  to  the  church.     Is  it  not 
also  fair  to  ask  whether  the  church  has  been  true  to 
its  colleges  ?    It  is  an  easy  matter  for  church  courts  to 
censure  college  trustees  and  to  bring  charges  of  infi- 
delity.   But  I  make  bold  to  say  that  such  college  infi- 
delity, if  there  is  such  infidelity,  would  naturally  be 
due  to  the  infidelity  of  the  church  itself.     The  church 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  169 

deserves  to  have  just  so  many  colleges  as  it  will  ade- 
quately support,  and  no  more. 

We  need  to  learn  the  lesson  that  church  neglect  and 
non-support  of  its  institutions  constitutes  no  necessary 
or  legitimate  element  of  church  control.  We  need  to 
remember  that  our  colleges  are,  after  all,  controlled  by 
mere  human  beings,  generally  intelligent  human  be- 
ings, who  know  the  needs  and  the  demands  of  modern 
education,  who  recognize  that  educational  efficiency 
and  academic  sincerity  are,  and  ought  to  be,  essential 
to  the  success  of  an  institution  of  learning;  who  can- 
not fail  to  see  that,  in  these  days  of  fierce  competition, 
any  institution  that  sails  under  false  academic  colors 
v;ill  "go  to  the  wall,"  and,  in  fact,  ought  to  go  to  the 
wall.  Our  church  colleges  may  perhaps  in  some  cases 
be  forced  to  consider  whether, — in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  church  is  willing  to  allow  them  to  languish,  to  give 
them  a  stone  when  they  are  asking  for  bread,  to  refuse 
their  urgent  cry  for  equipment  and  to  leave  them  help- 
less amid  increasing  demands  upon  them  and  amid  the 
fierce  and  unequal  competition  with  their  more  power- 
ful tax-supported  rivals, — it  is  not,  after  all,  their  real 
duty  to  consider  actual  academic  inefficiency  and  in- 
sincerity quite  as  criminal  as  technical  or  theoretical 
ecclesiastical  infidelity,  and,  in  their  despair  and  agony, 
to  sacrifice  what  has  long  ago  become,  in  fact,  a  mere 
rope  of  sand.  I  use  the  language,  "technical  or  theoret- 
ical infidelity,"  in  no  loose  sense.  I  mean  to  say  that 
the  breaking  of  the  technical  organic  bond  need  not 
imply  the  actual  loss  of  the  college.  For  a  college  can 
be  distinctly  Christian  without  formal  ecclesiastical 
connection.  I  mean  also  to  say  that  no  college,  how 
ever  closely  bound  to  the  church  by  organic  ties,  can, 


170  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

by  that  fact  alone,  claim  to  do  more  efficient  Christian 
service  than  any  other  Christian  college  which  differs 
from  it  in  no  other  respect  than  in  its  legal  ownership. 
It  is  altogether  wrong  to  assume  that  a  college,  in  order 
to  be  Christian,  must  be  technically  "denominational" ; 
and  it  will  be  educational  and  ecclesiastical  suicide  for 
our  church  to  be  transfixing  some  of  its  noblest  insti- 
tutions on  such  a  fallacy.  Nothing  could  be  more 
short-sighted  than  a  policy  of  neglecting  and  repudiat- 
ing and  disowning  an  institution  for  no  other  reason 
than  its  failure  to  wear  the  denominational  label. 

I  hold  no  brief  for  any  institution  that  yields  to 
temptation.  I  do  not  defend  it.  But  I  am  here  to  say 
that  a  starving  man  is  apt  to  waive  questions  of  strict 
propriety  and  make  a  break  for  bread  wherever  he  finds 
it.  It  may  be  the  duty  of  the  college  to  languish  in  its 
organic  church  connection  and  to  die  a  martyr  to  its 
unhappy  fate.  I  do  not  attempt  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
that  high  ethical  problem.  But  we  are  now  asking: 
What  of  the  duty  of  the  church  ?  Whenever  a  college 
seems  to  be  drifting  from  organic  control,  the  church 
raises  its  cry  of  alarm.  Perhaps  it  passes  resolutions 
of  censure.  It  denounces  as  a  crime  the  fact  that  it  seems 
to  be  drifting,  and  the  immediate  apparent  cause  of  its 
drifting.  But  the  real  cause,  and  the  ultimate  cause, 
hcliind  the  fact,  fails  to  create  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of 
its  composure  save  the  plaintive  cry  of  some  discour- 
aged college  president.  No  college  drifts  because  it 
wants  to  drift.  Every  college  would  prefer,  for  a  mul- 
titude of  reasons,  not  to  drift,  and  no  college  has  ever 
drifted,  or  will  ever  drift,  except  for  cause. 

Now  I  have  more  than  consumed  the  time  allotted 
to  me.     I  have  frankly  expressed  my  views,  in  good 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  171 

spirit,  and,  I  hope,  on  large  grounds.  Certainly,  I  have 
had  in  mind  no  concrete  case.  I  have  tried  to  discuss 
the  broad  principles  involved,  without  thought  of  any 
individual  institution,  certainly  without  thought  of  my 
own  institution,  which  has  enjoyed  a  stable,  uniform 
and  consistent  policy  and  method  of  government  since 
1782. 

I  have  stressed  this  matter  because  I  believe  that  it 
is  vital.  I  can  see  no  other  sure  or  rational  way  by 
which  to  check  this  growing  tendency  to  break  the  or- 
ganic connection  between  the  church  and  the  college 
than  to  create  a  sentiment  in  the  church  that  will  in- 
sist upon  church  support  as  equally  binding  upon  the 
church  as  college  fidelity  is  upon  the  college.  Then, 
and  not  until  then,  will  the  college  be  happy  in  its 
alliance  with  the  church,  or  the  church  justified  in  its 
alliance  with  the  college.  If,  therefore,  our  church 
would  rescue  higher  education,  it  must  seek  to  imbibe 
more  of  the  spirit  of  Calvin,  who  was  willing  to  sacri- 
fice something  for  his  convictions.  If  our  church  clt 
sires  to  re-establish  in  a  more  effective  form  its  historic 
alliance  with  higher  education  and  to  continue  true  to 
its  past  history,  it  must  study  the  life  of  Calvin  in 
the  light  of  the  struggles  and  the  sacrifices  made  by 
him  to  inaugurate  and  to  perpetuate  a  system  of  edu- 
cation adequate  to  the  great  work  he  had  planned. 

I  have  no  time  to  discuss  the  other  educational 
evils  that  need  to  be  corrected.  I  will  refer,  however, 
in  a  word,  to  the  pathetic  and  needless  rivalries  that 
exist  between  our  own  church  colleges.  At  best,  the 
struggle  is  difficult,  with  the  tax-supported  schools 
overwhelming  them  and  the  church  neglecting  them. 
But,  with  our  own  forces  divided  and  needlessly  wai 


172  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

ring-  against  each  other,  the  struggle  oecomes  indeed 
disheartening.  I  recall  the  fact  that,  years  ago,  I  lis- 
tened to  a  powerful  appeal  from  a  college  president  of 
our  own  church,  urging  the  church  to  support  its  col- 
leges. I  sympathized  with  his  appeal.  But  I  was  sur- 
prised to  hear,  a  little  later,  that  the  very  college  over 
which  he  presided  was  engaged  in  fierce  competition, 
not  so  much  with  the  tax-supported  schools  as  with 
other  schools  of  our  own  church.  The  pathos  of  such 
needless  jealousy  and  inconsistency  can  only  be  men- 
tioned as  one  of  those  singular  symptoms  of  impendiui^ 
suicide  which,  I  fear,  may  be  more  readily  deplored 
than  corrected. 

I  am  not  to  be  understood  as  urging  the  church 
to  neglect  the  tax-supported  college.  Far  from  it.  On 
the  contrary,  I  am  persuaded  that  the  attitude  of  the 
church  toward  some  of  these  institutions,  in  which 
there  is  a  religious  atmosphere,  both  sincere  and  in- 
spiring, has  been  in  the  past  oftentimes  unfriendly,  not 
to  say  unchristian.  Yet  in  many  of  these  institutions 
are  to  be  found  great  groups  of  students  from  Chris- 
tian homes.  Our  attitude  should  be  friendly  and  help- 
ful. The  church  can  look  after  its  own  in  the  state 
school  without  disloyalty  to  the  church  school,  li 
cannot  fail  to  look  after  its  own  in  any  school  without 
disloyalty  to  itself. 

The  church  of  Calvin  owes  it  to  its  heroic  past,  so 
full  of  educational  achievement,  to  its  present,  so  full 
of  educational  need,  and  to  its  future,  so  full  of  educa- 
tional opportunity,  to  re-establish  and  to  re-enforce  the 
alliance  between  religion  and  learning.  It  is  time  for 
the  church  to  review  the  reasons  why  it  is  in  the  edu- 
cational business  at  all.     It  is  time  for  the  church  to 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  173 

cease  regarding  its  institutions  as  mere  ornaments  in 
its  crown,  in  which  it  is  chiefly  interested  as  objects  oi 
selfish  pride,  of  complacent  boasting,  or  of  ruinous 
controversy.  It  is  time  for  the  church  to  reckon  more 
closely  with  the  economic  side  of  this  proposition  and 
to  provide  for  its  schools,  or  to  cease  to  undertake  to 
operate  them ;  to  wipe  away  any  possible  ground  for 
the  increasingly  familiar  accusation  that  "denomina- 
tional" education  is  a  synonym  for  an  "inferior"  edu- 
cation;  to  remember  that  the  world  will  judge  the 
quality  of  the  religion  for  which  it  stands,  by  the  edu- 
cational efificiency  and  sincerity  of  the  colleges  by 
which  it  is  represented.  It  is  time  for  the  church- 
colleges  to  dismiss  any  idea  that  they  exist  for  their 
own  glory,  for  the  fame  of  their  faculties,  or  for  the 
sentimental  interest  of  their  alumni ;  to  cease  this  in- 
ternal warfare,  this  needless  rivalry;  to  get  together  and 
not  live  apart ;  to  enquire  whether  they  have  standards, 
ideals  and  equipment  that  justify  their  academic 
existence. 

Our  church  is  laying  great  plans  and  building  great 
hopes.  That  is  the  right  and  proper  policy.  It  is  also 
a  sacred  duty.  But  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  no 
plan  that  we  can  lay,  no  hope  that  we  can  build,  will 
be  abiding,  if  we  neglect  the  foundation-stone  of  every 
plan  and  of  every  hope.  I  come  to  you  from  the  battle 
lines.  I  speak  words  of  soberness  when  I  say  that 
our  church  needs  the  conviction,  the  spirit,  the  devo- 
tion, the  sacrifice,  and  the  faith  of  Calvin  to  awaken  it 
and  to  inspire  it  to  do  its  full  duty  in  this  direction. 
B^very  form  of  activity  in  which  we  engage  as  a  church 
— from  our  great  work  in  the  foreign  field  all  the  way 
down  the  line — will  finally  and  inevitably  depend,  for 


174  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

its  full  success,  upon  the  policy  we  adopt  in  this  matter 
of  Christian  education.  Calvin  understood  this.  Knox 
understood  it.  Shall  we  of  this  time,  the  heirs  of  so 
great  a  past,  standing  on  the  threshold  of  the  greatest 
opportunity,  the  greatest  need  and  the  greatest  crisis, 
which  has  confronted  the  church,  fail  to  understand  the 
situation,  to  grapple  with  it,  and  to  act  upon  it?  Thcic 
is  no  present  duty  of  our  church  greater  or  more  in- 
sistent. There  is  no  present  duty  that  we  owe  to  the 
memory  of  Calvin  more  sacred  than  this  duty  of 
purging  ourselves  of  the  blame  resting  upon  us  in 
view  of  our  growing  neglect  and  growing  indifference 
towards  a  situation,  which  is  to-day  both  a  standing 
reproach  and  a  standing  peril  to  our  church. 


Hon.  Frank  T.  Glascjow, 
Lexington,  Va. 


CALVIN'S  INFLUENCE  UPON  THE 

POLITICAL    DEVELOPMENT 

OF  THE  WORLD. 


By  Frank  T.  Glasgow 
Lexington^  Virginia. 

John  Calvin  died  May  27,  1564,  in  the  55th  year  of 
his  age;  and  a  quaint  writer  adds,  "He  left  behind  him 
only  $170  in  money;  but  an  incalculable  fortune  in  fame 
and  consequential  influence." 

In  this  man,  we  are  told  by  one,  "lies  the  origin  and 
guaranty  of  our  constitutional  liberties." 

And  again :  "It  is  admitted  by  all  scientific  students," 
says  Kuyper,  "that  Calvinism  has  led  public  law  into  new 
paths ;  first  in  Western  Europe,  then  in  two  continents, 
and  to-day  more  and  more  among  all  civilized  nations." 

Let  us  inquire  how  far  these  claims  are  well-founded. 

Quoad  our  subject,  or  to  be  more  exact,  in  relation, 
to  human  government,  what  is  Calvinism? 

Fundamental  as  was  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by 
Faith,  this  we  conclude  was  not  Calvin's  distinguishing 
tenet.  But  going  back  to  a  broader  generalization,  the 
thoughtful  student  of  Calvin's  Institutes  (said  to  be  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  products  of  the  human  mind  in 
any  age,  and  the  backbone  of  the  Reformation),  cannot 
fail  to  recognize  the  accuracy  of  the  statement,  that  Cal- 
vin's distinctive  and  dominating  principle,  in  the  widest 
sense  manifestly  was,  the  Sovereignty  of  the  Triune  God! 
God's  sovereignty  over  his  whole  creation;  in  all  spheres 


1/6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

and  kingdoms,  visible  and  invisible.  Sovereignty  in  na- 
ture ;  sovereignty  in  the  state ;  sovereignty  in  society ; 
sovereignty  in  the  church,  and  sovereignty  in  the  indi- 
vidual. 

According  to  Calvin,  had  not  sin  entered,  God  would 
have  remained  the  sole  King  of  all  men,  everywhere,  and 
forever. 

With  sin  present,  a  representative  government  is  the 
ideal  form,  that  of  the  Republic. 

Calvin's  doctrine  of  sin  and  depravity  has  been  the 
greatest  of  all  levellers.  "It  concludes  all  men  under  sin ; 
from  the  slave  in  his  hovel  to  the  King  on  his  throne." 
In  the  light  of  this  tremendous  fact,  all  earthly  distinc- 
tions disappear ;  the  foundation  of  the  privileges  of  birth 
and  caste  crumbles  and  the  lustre  of  all  earthly  grandeur 
is  dulled. 

Thus,  all  men  owe  to  God  the  same  supreme  al- 
legiance ;  and  the  offer  of  mercy  is  made  to  all  men 
upon  the  same  terms  and  conditions.  If  all  men  are 
equal  before  God's  law,  all  men  are  equal  before  man's 
law.  Hence  emerges  clearly  to  view  the  fundamental 
axiom  of  Modern  Democracy,  that  "all  men  are  created 
equal,  and  vested  with  certain  inalienable  rights."  This 
great  principle,  therefore,  properly  limited,  is  Calvin's, 
rather  than  Jefferson's !  ...  It  irresistibly  follows 
that  "to  have  placed  man  on  a  footing  of  equality  with 
man,  so  far  as  purely  human  interests  are  concerned,  is 
the  immortal  glory  which  incontestably  belongs  to  Cal- 
vin !" 

"And   Freedom  reared  in  that  August    sunrise, 
Her  beautiful   bold  brow." 

Sir  James  Stephen,  the  eminent  English  Statesman, 
churchman,  and  jurist,  and  professor  of  Modern  His- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  177 

tory  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  in  speaking  of  the 
organization  effected  by  the  General  Synod  of  France 
in  1559,  says:  "A  great  social  revolution  had  thus  been 
effected.  Within  the  centre  of  the  French  monarchy, 
Calvin  and  his  disciples  had  established  a  spiritual  re- 
public, and  had  solemnly  recognized  as  the  basis  of  it, 
four  principles,  each  germinent  of  results  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  political  commonwealth. 

These  principles  were: 

First.     That  the  will  of  the  people  was  the  one  legis-^ 
lative  source  of  the  power  of  their  rulers. 

Second.  That  power  was  most  properly  delegated  by 
the  people  to  their  rulers. 

Third.  That  in  ecclesiastical  government,  the  clergy 
and  the  laity  were  entitled  to  an  equal  and  co-ordinate 
avithority;  and. 

Fourth.  That  between  the  church  and  the  state,  no 
alliance,  or  mutual  dependence,  or  other  definite  relation 
necessarily  or  properly  existed." 

Calvin's  church  organization,  Green  calls,  a  "Chris- 
tian Republic;"  a  "Christian  state,  in  which  the  true  sov- 
ereign was  not  pope  or  bishop,  but  the  Christian  man." 

Calvinism  therefore  stands  throughout  for  a  system 
of  popular  government  according  to  law.  It  provides  a 
true  authority,  resting  humanly  speaking  on  the  consent 
of  the  governed.  By  its  deep  conception  of  sin  it  has 
laid  bare  the  true  root  of  state-life,  and  has  taught  us 
two  things: 

First,  that  we  should  receive  with  gratitude  the  in- 
stitution of  the  state  from  God's  hand;  and  at  the  same 


178  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

time  that  we  must  be  ever  watchful  against  the  danger, 
which,  from  human  weakness,  lurks  in  the  power  of  the 
state. 

Wm.  C.  Preston,  of  South  Carolina,  wrote:  "Cer- 
tainly it  was  a  most  remarkable  and  singular  coincidence 
that  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  should 
bear  such  a  close  and  striking  resemblance  to  the  political 
constitution  of  our  country."  Dr.  Smith,  however,  in  his 
wonderful  book,  "The  Creed  of  Presbyterians,"  a  work 
which,  with  us  I  am  sure,  stands  second  only  to  our 
standards,  says:  that  when  "the  fathers  of  our  Republic 
sat  down  to  frame  a  system  of  representative  govern- 
ment, their  task  was  not  so  difficult  as  some  have  im- 
agined. They  had  a  model  to  work  by.  As  Chief  Jus- 
tice Tilghman  says:  "The  framers  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  borrowed  very  much  of  the  form 
of  our  Republic  from  the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland.'  " 

We  need  not  therefore  be  surprised  to  find  that  one 
of  our  last  and  greatest  expounders  of  constitutional  law 
(John  Randolph  Tucker),  in  his  masterful  work  on  the 
constitution,  gives  us  concrete  Calvinism  as  applied  to 
the  fundamentals  of  human  government,  thus: 

"Man's  title  to  his  liberty  is  from  his  Creator.  It 
consists  in  the  selfuse  of  endowments  bestowed  on  him, 
under  trust  responsibility  of  God.  God  ordained  society 
as  the  school  of  the  race ;  and  government,  as  the  organic 
force,  was  ordained  to  preserve  social  order,  and  con- 
serve the  liberty  of  man." 

These  things  being  conceded,  "the  related  order  of 
these  social  elements  is:  Man  trustee  of  his  liberty  for 
God;  society  the  Divinely  ordained  trustee  for  man;  and 
government  the   Divinely    ordained   trustee   for   society. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  179 

Man  is  the  object  of  all  this  Divine  arrangement.  They 
(government  and  society),  are  ordained  for  him;  he  not 
cieated  for  them.  His  good  is  the  ultiiiiatuin  of  all  their 
use  of  power;  and  their  power  is  only  legitimate  in  title, 
or  in  exercise,  when  it  does  justice  to  him  in  the  pro- 
tection of  his  right  and  liberty.  Man  has  not  only  the 
right  of  self-preservation,  but  God  has  made  it  his  duty. 
It  is  his  primal  duty  therefore  to  see  that  the  Divine 
means  ordained  for  his  protection  shall  not  be  perverted 
to  his  injury  or  destruction." 

"To  sum  up,  power  and  right  are  correlated;  both 
are  divinely  ordained.  Political  power  is  vested  in  trust 
for  man;  right  is  vested  in  man  in  trust  for  God.  Right 
is  primal,  power  is  ancillary.  Right  is  the  end,  powcf 
and  means.  Right  is  the  good  to  be  secured,  power  the 
minister,  the  servant  of  right.  The  divine  constitution 
is  not  jus  Divimuii  rcguiii,  but  jus  Divinum  houiinum. 

"This  political  philosophy  is  not  the  result  of  social 
compact ;  but  is  the  logical  consequence  of  that  intense 
individuality  of  man,  arising  out  of  his  sole  responsi- 
bility to  God ;  to  conserve  and  develop  which  society 
and  government  were  divinely  ordained." 

Let  us  remember  that  religious  and  civil  liberty,  whilst 
having  no  organic  connection,  yet  have  a  strong  natural 
aflinity,  the  one  for  the  other.  And  that,  ''by  the  side 
of  every  religion  is  to  be  found  a  political  opinion  con- 
nected with  it  by  affinity.  If  the  human  mind  be  left 
to  follow  its  own  bent,  it  will  regulate  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  institutions  of  society  in  a  uniform  manner;  and 
a  man  will  endeavor,  if  I  may  so  speak,  to  harmonize 
earth  with  heaven." 


i8o  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

In  entering  this  discussion,  we  cannot  pause  even 
to  glance  at  the  early  life  of  this  great  man;  nor  to  trace 
his  wonderful  and  chequered  career.  "The  sixteenth  cen- 
tury is  the  greatest  century  in  Christian  times ;  the  epoch 
where  (so  to  speak)  everything  ends  and  everything  be- 
gins. Nothing  is  paltry,  nothing  small,  not  even  a  little 
city  of  12,000  souls,  lying  unobserved  at  the  foot  of  the 
Alps." 

We  must  content  ourselves  therefore  with  concentrat- 
ing our  gaze  at  once  upon  this  marvelous  expounder 
of  Truth,  human  and  divine,  as  we  find  him  in  Geneva ; 
in  Geneva,  well-styled  the  "Thermopylae  of  Protestan- 
tism and  Freedom !" 

"The  history  of  the  political  emancipation  of  Geneva 
is  interesting  in  itself.  Liberty,  it  has  been  said,  has 
never  been  common  in  the  world.  It  has  not  flourished  in 
all  climates;  and  the  periods  when  a  people  struggles 
justly  for  liberty,  are  the  privileged  epochs  of  history." 

Under  the  heroic,  patient  and  consecrated  Farel,  God 
was  preparing  Geneva  for  Calvin.  At  the  same  time,  he 
had  Calvin  in  the  school  of  preparation  for  Geneva.  The 
union  of  these  two  natures  and  forces  (predestined  for 
each  other),  could  not  fail  to  produce  remarkable  results 
in  the  world. 

For  years,  and  even  centuries,  persistent  and  peri- 
lous efforts  had  been  made  at  Geneva  for  a  firm  estab- 
lishment of  freedom.  She  had  had  her  martyrs  of 
liberty,  and  her  martyrs  of  faith.  "Her  career  illustrates 
the  great  maxim,  that  political  freedom  and  Christian 
truth  must  advance  hand  in  hand,  for  the  salvation  of 
nations,  and  salvation  of  souls."  To  convert  the  spark 
of  evangelical  fire  already  in  Geneva,  into  a  pure,  daz- 
zling light,  there  was  need  of  an  intellect  of  vast  depth. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  i8i 

a  will  of  vast  energy,  and  a  faith  of  vast  power.  God 
sent  the  man  endowed  with  these  gifts,  in  the  person  of 
John  Calvin.  In  the  quiet  of  due  Tillet's  library  at  Agou- 
leme  was  the  forge  where  the  new  Vulcan  had  prepared 
the  bolts,  which  later  he  systematized,  and  finally  scat- 
tered broadcast  on  every  side  from  Geneva. 

We  now  fix  our  eyes  on  Calvin  during  the  period  of 
his  great  labors  in  Geneva,  beginning  in  1541.  He  is 
conducting  most  remarkable  enterprises ;  as  pastor, 
preacher,  teacher,  and  reformer!  We  see  his  wonderful 
school  now  firmly  established.  The  teacher  is  giving  full 
swing  to  his  great  and  ripe  powers.  Thousands  of  pil- 
grim pupils,  from  all  over  Continental  Europe  and  the 
British  Isles,  sit  at  his  feet ;  some  fleeing  from  oppres- 
sion at  home ;  others  fleeing  for  the  hope  of  the  true 
light  set  before  them.  This  continues  for  many  years. 
He  prosecutes  the  great  work  with  tremendous  vigor, 
masterful  skill  and  untiring  energy  to  the  end  of  his 
life. 

Says  Bancroft :  "More  truly  benevolent  to  the  human 
race  than  Solon,  more  self-denying  than  Lycurgus,  the 
genius  of  Calvin  infused  enduring  elements  into  the  insti- 
tutions of  Geneva,  and  made  it,  for  the  modern  world, 
the  impregnable  fortress  of  popular  liberty,  the  fertile 
deedplot  of  Democracy." 

Had  Calvin  done  nothing  more  than  to  make  govern- 
ment "of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people"  a 
startling  and  triumphant  reality  in  the  earth,  he  would 
have  deserved  well  of  mankind. 

This  achievement  marked  the  opening  of  a  new  chap- 
ter in  the  history  of  humanity. 

From  Geneva  his  influence  radiated  into  every  cor- 
ner of  Christendom.     "Calvin's  true  home,  "Schaflf  says, 


1 82  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

"was  the  Church  of  God."  He  broke  through  all  na- 
tional limitations.  "There  was  scarcely  a  monarch  or 
statesman  or  scholar  of  his  age  with  whom  he  did  not 
come  in  contact.  Every  people  of  Europe  was  repre- 
sented among  his  disciples.  He  helped  to  shape  the  re- 
ligious character  of  churches  and  nations  yet  unborn. 
The  Huguenots  of  France,  the  Protestants  of  Holland 
and  Belgium,  the  Puritans  and  Independents  of  England 
and  New  England,  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland,  and 
throughout  the  world,  yea,  we  may  say,  the  whole  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  in  its  prevailing  religious  character  and 
institution,  bear  the  impress  of  his  genius,  and  show  the 
power  and  tenacity  of  his  doctrines  and  principles  of 
government." 

Says  Rufus  Choate,  the  great  American  lawyer:  "In 
the  reign  of  Mary,  from  1553  to  1558,  a  thousand  learned 
Englishmen  fled  from  the  stake  at  home,  to  the  happier 
states  of  continental  Protestantism.  Of  these,  great 
numbers — I  know  not  how  many — came  to  Geneva.  I 
ascribe  to  that  five  years  in  Geneva  an  influence  which 
has  changed  the  face  of  the  world.  I  seem  to  myself  to 
trace  to  it  as  an  influence  on  English  character,  a  new 
theology,  new  politics,  another  tone  of  character,  the 
opening  of  another  era  of  time  and  liberty.  I  seem  to 
myself  to  trace  to  it  the  great  civil  war  in  England, 
the  Republican  constitution  framed  in  the  cabin  of  the 
Mayflower,  the  theology  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  bat- 
tle of  Bunker  Hill,  the  Independence  of  America." 

Thus,  "the  light  of  Calvin's  genius  shattered  the  mask 
of  darkness,  which  superstition  had  held  for  centuries 
before  the  brow  of  religion"  and  human  government. 

It  is  not  possible  for  us  here  to  indicate,  much  less 
trace  all  the  channels  through  which  his  influence  ran, 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  183 

to  refresh  and  water  the  earth,  and  to  "make  glad  the 
city  of  our  God."  Calvin  played  on  a  harp  of  a  thousand 
strings ;  and  the  music  of  his  playing  echoed,  wherever 
heard,  in  the  hearts  of  untold  thousands  of  brave,  God- 
fearing spirits.  We  see  the  fruits  of  his  influence  tak- 
ing shape  in  France,  in  the  Netherlands,  and  in  Scotland. 
We  see  his  influence,  "under  God  create  the  Dutch  Re- 
public, and  make  it  the  first  free  nation  to  put  a  girdle 
of  empire  around  the  world." 

"The  one  man,  who  was  the  principal  instrument  in 
the  hand  of  Providence  in  reforming  Scotland,  was  John 
Knox.  He  had  learned  his  theology  at  the  feet  of  Cal- 
vin at  Geneva ;  and  had  known,  as  a  galley-slave,  the 
tender  mercies  of  Romanism.  He  was  one  of  the  six 
clerical  "Johns"  who  composed  the  first  General  As- 
sembly of  Scotland. 

His  was  the  voice  which  taught  the  peasant  of  the 
Lothians  that  he  was  a  free  man ;  the  equal  in  the  sight 
of  the  God  with  the  proudest  Peer  or  Prelate  that  had 
trampled  on  his  forefathers !"  For  whilst  Calvin's  doc- 
trine of  sin  "abased  the  pride  and  humbled  the  preten- 
sions of  the  great,  his  doctrine  of  predestination  exalted 
the  lowly.  To  the  arrogance  and  pride  which  went  with 
earthly  power,  the  simple  peasant,  conscious  within  him- 
self of  his  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  could  op- 
pose a  yet  higher  pride.  'Though  his  name  did  not  ap- 
pear in  the  Register  of  Heralds,  it  was  recorded  in  the 
Piook  of  Life.'  Though  unknown  among  men  beyond  the 
limits  of  his  lord's  estate,  he  was  known  in  the  coun- 
cils of  Heaven.  His  name  was  among  those  whom  the 
Father  from  all  eternity  had  given  to  the  Son  in  an  ever- 
lasting covenant.  He  had  been  bought  with  a  great  price, 
had  been  saved  with  a  great  salvation.  For  in  his  stead 
the  Prince  of  Glory  had  died  upon  the  tree !" 


184  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Marvelous  indeed  then  was  the  transformation  "when 
the  great  doctrines  learned  by  Knox  from  the  Bible  in 
Scotland,  and  more  thoroughly  at  Geneva  while  sitting 
at  the  feet  of  Calvin,  flashed  upon  the  sober  mind  of 
Scotland!  It  was  like  the  sun  rising  at  midnight!  Says 
Carlyle:  'This  that  Knox  did  for  his  nation,  we  may 
really  call  a  resurrection  as  from  death.'  'John  Knox,' 
says  Froude,  'was  the  one  man  without  whom  Scotland 
as  the  modren  world  has  known  it,  would  have  had  no 
existence.'  Knox  made  Calvinism  the  religion  of  Scot- 
land; and  Calvinism  made  Scotland  the  moral  standard 
for  the  world." 

"  'Here,'  said  Melville  over  the  grave  of  John  Knox, 
'here  lies  one  who  never  feared  the  face  of  man.'  And 
if  Scotland  still  reverences  the  memory  of  the  reformer, 
it  is  because  at  that  grave  her  peasant  and  her  trader 
learned  to  look  in  the  face  of  nobles  and  kings  and  'not 
be  ashamed.'  He  it  was  that  raised  the  poor  commons 
of  his  country — into  men  whom  neither  king,  noble  nor 
priest  could  force  again  to  submit  to  tyranny." 

Allow  me  here  to  pause  a  moment,  to  say  this  much  of 
of  the  true  Scotchman :  Wherever  we  see  him  in  his- 
tory, he  is  loyal  both  to  truth,  and  to  liberty.  He  is 
also  loyal  to  the  faith  and  traditions  of  the  fatherland. 
For,  whilst  solving  the  world's  problems,  and  extending 
Anglo-Saxon  liberty  and  Christian  civilization  around 
the  globe,  he  ever  "carries  with  him  his  Confession  of 
Faith,  his  catechism,  Bible  and  Psalm-book ;  and  from  his 
dwelling  or  his  Kirk,  in  his  native  Pentland  Hills,  or  in 
the  Appalatchian  wilds ;  or  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, the  Ganges  or  the  South  Sea  Islands,  his  simple 
praise  ascends  to  Heaven,  in  words  and  music  born  in  the 
land  of  the  bluebells  and  the  heather." 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  185 

Later,  if  we  again  ask,  who  brought  the  final  great 
deliverance  to  English  liberty,  we  are  answered  by 
history.  That  illustrious  Calvinist,  William,  Prince 
of  Orange,  who,  as  Macaulay  says,  "found  in  the 
strong  and  sharp  logic  of  the  Geneva  school  something 
that  suited  his  intellect  and  his  temper;  the  keystone 
of  whose  religion  was  the  doctrine  of  predestination ; 
and  who  with  his  keen  logical  vision,  declared  that  if 
he  were  to  abandon  the  doctrine  of  predestination,  he 
must  abandon  with  it  all  his  belief  in  a  superintending 
Providence." 

"On  two  great  leaders,  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
and  (second  only  to  him  in  the  great  crisis),  Marshall 
Schomberg,  a  Hollander  and  a  Frenchman,  be  it  said 
to  the  everlasting  glory  of  their  countries,  the  liberties 
of  the  world  were  then,  under  God,  depending:  the 
one,  William,  almost  unable  to  sit  on  his  gray  horse 
from  physical  weakness  and  loss  of  blood ;  the  other, 
venerable  with  years  and  honors,  who  there,  in  the 
Boyne  waters,  gave  his  noble  life,  a  sacrifice  for  the 
welfare  of  mankind !" 

We  see  then  what  element  fought  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne.  "The  very  watchword  of  William's  army  was 
'Westminster' ;  the  word  which  was  before,  and  has 
ever  since  been  stamped  on  the  symbol  of  the  Calvin- 
istic  churches." 

As  to  the  effect  of  William's  victory  and  reign  as 
William  III.  of  England,  Macaulay  says:  "It  has 
been,  of  all  revolutions,  the  most  beneficent ;  the  high- 
est eulogy  that  can  be  pronounced  upon  it  is  this,  that 
it  was  England's  best ;  and  that  for  the  authority  of 
law,  for  the  security  of  property,  for  the  peace  of  our 
streets,  for  the  happiness  of  our  homes,  our  gratitude 


i86  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

is  due,  under  Him  who  raises  and  pulls  down  nations 
at  his  pleasure,  to  the  Long  Parliament,  to  the  Con- 
vention and  to  William  of  Orang-e." 

"It  was  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  (in  Ireland  in 
1690)  that  decided  the  fate  of  Protestantism,  not  only 
for  Great  Britain,  but  for  America ;  and  for  the  world, 
indeed;  for  had  William  been  defeated  there.  Protes- 
tantism could  not  have  found  a  safe  shelter  on  the 
face  of  the  earth." 

Where  learned  our  ancestors,  the  immortal  prin- 
ciples of  the  rights  of  man  ?  Of  human  liberty,  equal- 
ity, and  self-government,  on  which  they  based  our 
Republic,  and  which  form  to-day  the  distinctive  glory 
of  our  American  civilization?  History  here  likewise 
gives  answer. 

According  to  D'Aubigne,  Luther  transformea 
princes  into  heroes  of  faith,  but  soon  settled  down  at 
peace  with  them.  The  reformation  of  Calvin,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  addressed  particularly  to  the  people. 
It  was  ever  advancing,  and  ever  contending  with  the 
rulers  of  this  world.  And  wherever  Calvinism  was 
established,  it  brought  with  it  not  only  Truth,  but 
Liberty,  and  all  the  great  developments  which  these 
two  fertile  principles  carry  with  them. 

Says  Bancroft:  "Calvinism  was  revolutionary.  It 
taught  as  a  divine  revelation  the  natural  equality  of 
man."  "It  is  the  essential  tendency  of  Calvinism," 
says  Doyle,  the  eminent  Oxford  scholar,  "to  destroy 
all  distinctions  of  rank,  and  all  claims  to  superiority 
which  rest  on  wealth  or  political  expediency."  "Cal- 
vinism is  essentially  Democratic,"  says  Buckle.  "A 
democratic  and  republican  religion,"  it  is  called  by 
DeTocqueville,  one  of  the  ablest  political  writers  of 
the  century. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  187 

"Calvinism,  therefore,  opposes  hereditary  mon- 
archy, aristocracy,  and  bondage."  John  Richard 
Green,  the  author  of  the  greatest  history  of  the  Eng 
h"sh  people  yet  written,  belonged  to  the  Anglican 
church.  Yet  he  says :  "It  is  in  Calvinism  that  the 
modern  world  strikes  its  roots ;  for  it  was  Calvinism 
that  first  revealed  the  worth  and  dignity  of  man. 
Called  of  God,  heir  of  heaven,  the  trader  at  his  counter, 
and  the  digger  in  his  field,  suddenly  rose  into  equality 
with  the  noble  and  the  king."  "In  that  mighty  eleva- 
tion of  the  masses,"  he  says  again,  "which  was  em- 
bodied in  the  Calvinistic  doctrines  of  election  and 
grace,  lay  the  germs  of  the  modern  principles  of  human 
equality." 

And  even  Castelar,  an  eloquent  unbelieving  Span- 
iard, grudgingly  admit,  that  "Anglo-Saxon  democracy 
is  the  product  of  a  severe  theology  learned  by  a  few 
Cliristian  fugitives  in  the  gloomy  cities  of  Holland  and 
Switzerland,  where  the  morose  shade  of  Calvin  still 
wanders.  And  that  it  remains  serene  in  its  grandeur, 
forming  the  most  dignified,  most  moral,  most  enlight- 
ened and  richest  portion  of  the  human  race." 

"Before  proving  its  power  in  the  new  world,  Cal- 
vinism had  fought  and  won  the  fight  for  freedom  in 
the  old.  Not  only  in  Scotland,  as  we  have  seen,  but 
also  in  England  and  Holland  it  had  challenged  and 
conquered  tyranny."  To  the  Puritans,  declares  Hume 
(a  hater  of  Calvinism),  England  owes  "the  whole  free- 
dom of  her  constitution.  .  .  .  The  battle  that  saved 
England  to  constitutional  liberty  was  fought  and  won 
by  Calvinists."  Of  Holland  the  same  writer  says: 
"The  Reformation  had  entered  the  Netherlands  by  the 
Walloon  (Calvinistic)  gate." 


i88  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Seventeen  years  before  Calvin's  birth,  America  was 
discovered.  It  waited  well  nigh  two  hundred  years 
for  important  settlements.  Europe  was  not  ripe ;  the 
hour  had  not  yet  struck.  By  and  by,  however,  the 
mighty  exodus  began ;  and  God  sent  some  of  his  best 
across  the  waters  first,  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the 
future.  These  were  Huguenots,  Dutch,  Puritans, 
Scotch,  and  Scotch-Irish!  Had  there  ever  before  in 
the  world's  history  been  a  nation  founded  by  such 
people  as  these? 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  estimated  popu- 
lation of  our  country  was  3,000,000.  Of  this  number 
900,000  were  of  Scotch  or  Scotch-Irish  origin ;  600,000 
were  Puritan  English;  while  over  400,000  were  of 
Dutch,  German  Reformed,  and  Huguenot  descent. 
That  is  to  say,  two-thirds  of  our  Revolutionary  fore- 
fathers were  trained  in  the  schools  of  Calvin ;  embrac- 
ing the  New  England  colonists,  and  the  Scotch-Irish 
immigrants,  pronounced  by  the  learned  author  of 
"American  Christianity"  the  most  masterful  races  on 
the  continent. 

According  to  Bancroft,  "The  revolution  of  1776, 
as  far  as  it  was  efifected  by  religion,  was  a  Presby- 
terian measure.  It  was  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the 
principles  which  the  Presbyterians  of  the  old  world 
planted  in  her  sons,  the  English  Puritans,  the  Scotch 
Covenanters,  the  French  Huguenots,  the  Dutch  Cal- 
vinists,  and  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  of  Ulster" ; 
and  may  I  add,  in  her  daughters?  For  "Calvinism  has 
moulded  her  own  type  of  womanhood ;  worth  without 
vanity;  self-sacrifice,  with  self-righteousness;  zealous 
service,  without  immodesty;  strong  convictions,  with- 
out effrontery,  and  human  loveliness,  heightened  and 
softened  by  heavenly-mindedness." 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  189 

The  first  Declaration  of  Independence,  certainly 
the  first  body  of  resolutions  to  that  efifect,  was  sent 
forth  by  the  Mecklenburg  Assembly,  in  session  in 
Charlotte,  N.  C,  composed  of  twenty-seven  staunch 
Calvinists,  of  whom  nine  were  ruling  elders,  and  one 
a  Presbyterian  preacher. 

It  strikes  us  now  as  strange,  that,  as  late  as  August, 
1775,  Thomas  Jefferson  said :  *T  would  rather  be  in 
dependence  on  Great  Britain,  properly  limited,  than 
on  any  nation  on  earth,  or  than  on  no  nation."  And 
that  Washington,  in  May  1776,  said:  "When  I  took 
command  of  this  army  (in  June,  1775),  I  abhorred 
the  idea  of  independence."  These  great  and  brave 
patriots,  however,  soon  gravitated  to  the  point  before 
reached  by  the  Mecklenburgers,  and  demanded  inde- 
pendence. But  the  children  of  the  Covenanters  were 
in  advance !  There  is  not  a  doubt,  says  Bancroft,  that 
the  first  voice  publicly  raised  in  America  "to  dissolve 
all  connection  with  Great  Britain,  came  not  from  the 
Puritans  of  New  England,  nor  from  the  Dutch  of  New 
York,  nor  the  Planters  of  Virginia ;  but  from  the 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians." 

So  intense,  universal  and  aggressive  was  their  zeal 
for  liberty,  that  the  struggle  of  the  colonists  for  inde- 
pendence was  spoken  of  in  England  as  "The  Presby- 
terian Rebellion,"  An  ardent  colonial  devotee  of  King 
George  wrote  home:  "I  fix  all  the  blame  of  these 
extraordinary  proceedings  upon  the  Presbyterians. 
They  have  been  the  chief  and  principal  instruments  in 
all  these  flaming  measures.  They  always  do  and  ever 
will  act  against  government,  from  that  restless  and 
turbulent  anti-monarchical  spirit  which  has  always 
distinguished  them  everywhere."     And  when  news  of 


190  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

"these  extraordinary  proceedings"  reached  England, 
Horace  Walpole  said  in  the  English  Parliament, 
"Cousin  America  has  run  off  with  a  Presbyterian 
Parson." 

But  "the  influence  of  the  free  spirit  of  Calvinism 
in  favor  of  the  liberties  of  the  colonies  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  American  continent.  It  was  working  heroi- 
cally on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Two  great 
Scotchmen,  David  Hume  and  Adam  Smith,  were 
everywhere  proclaiming  it  in  their  own  effective  way, 
and  compelling  men  to  hear  it.  In  the  House  of 
Commons,  also,  it  was  boldly  and  eloquently  upheld 
by  Erin's  gifted  son,  Edmund  Burke,  as  well  as  by 
Charles  James  Fox,  of  whom  Dr.  Johnson  said,  'Here 
is  a  man  who  has  divided  a  kingdom  with  Caesar,  so 
that  it  was  a  doubt  which  the  nation  should  be  ruled 
by,  the  sceptre  of  George  HI.  or  the  tongue  of  Mr. 
Fox.'  " 

"The  Calvinistic  philosophy  had  also  taken  a  firm 
hold  of  the  popular  mind  in  Germany,  where  Kant, 
imbued  with  its  liberty-loving  spirit,  was  loosening 
the  foundations  of  despotism,  and  suffering  persecu- 
tion for  his  valiant  defence  of  the  American  cause. 
France,  too,  was  all  aglow  with  the  free,  bounding, 
restless  spirit  of  Calvinism,  where  Rousseau,  in  spite 
of  the  immorality  of  his  life,  and  the  crudity  of  his 
theories,  was  conducting,  through  his  political  science, 
the  same  political  warfare  as  that  in  America.  His 
influence  in  advocating  the  rights  of  man  contributed 
very  largely  to  the  forming  of  the  alliance  between 
France  and  the  colonies,  and  to  the  unfurling  of  the 
royal  standard  alongside  that  of  the  blue  flag  of  the 
Covenanters,   hoisted  again  in  a  new  form  over  the 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  191 

American  continent.  It  was  Calvinistic  France  and 
Calvinistic  America  that  were  going-  forth  in  loving 
unity  to  fight  on  Western  soil  for  the  cause  of  human 
freedom. 

"Thus  Calvinism  in  Europe,  and  Calvinism  in 
America  were  leagued  together  for  the  promotion  of 
the  one  great  purpose.  Their  several  currents,  civil 
and  spiritual,  philosophical  and  religious,  had  run  to- 
gether and  were  sweeping  on  in  one  great  stream, 
bearing  the  colonies  on  to  liberty.  Out  of  Calvinistic 
Protestantism  had  arisen  the  great  leaders  who  had 
issued  their  rousing  calls  to  the  nations  for  deliver- 
ance from  mental  and  political  bondage,  and  had  com- 
bined their  forces  for  securing  the  one  great  object. 
Rousseau  had  inflamed  the  youthful  spirit  of  France 
with  an  intense  desire  for  republican  simplicity,  and 
Edwards  had  summed  up  the  political  history  of 
America,  when  he  gave  Calvinism  its  political  en- 
thusiasm, by  declaring  virtue  to  consist  in  universal 
love." 

In  view  of  all  this,  can  it  surprise  us  when  we  find 
D'Aubigne  saying:  "Calvin  was  the  founder  of  the 
greatest  republic"?  And  that  the  American  nation, 
which  we  have  seen  growing  so  rapidly,  "boasts  as 
its  father,  the  humble  Reformer  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Leman"?  Or  when  we  hear  the  famous  French  critic 
and  historian,  Taine,  declare  of  the  Calvinists :  "These 
men  are  the  true  heroes  of  England.  They  foundea 
England,  in  spite  of  the  corruption  of  the  Stuarts,  by 
the  exercise  of  duty,  by  the  practice  of  justice,  by  ob- 
stinate toil,  by  vindication  of  the  right,  by  resistance 
to  oppression,  by  the  conquest  of  liberty,  by  the  re- 
pression of  vice.    They  founded  Scotland;  they  founded 


192  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

the  United  States,  and  at  this  day  they  are,  by  their 
descendants,  founding  Australia,  and  colonizing  the 
world." 

And  so  we  find  that  for  three  and  a  half  centuries 
now,  "Calvinism  has  been  producing  in  the  social 
conditions  of  the  nations  that  have  received  it,  trans- 
formations unknown  to  former  times.  And  still  at 
this  very  day,  and  now  perhaps  more  than  ever,  it 
imparts  to  the  men  who  accept  it,  a  spirit  of  power, 
which  makes  them  chosen  instruments,  fitted  to  pro- 
pagate truth,  morality  and  civilization  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth." 

May  we  not,  therefore,  in  concluding,  justly  claim 
that  this  turn  in  the  tide  of  the  world's  history,  "could 
not  have  been  brought  about,  except  by  the  implanting 
of  another  principle  in  the  human  heart,  and  by  the 
disclosing  of  another  world  of  thought  to  the  human 
mind?  That  only  by  Calvinism  did  the  'Psalm  of 
Liberty'  find  its  way  from  the  troubled  conscience  to 
the  lips,  and  that  Calvinism  has,  in  fact,  captured  ana 
guaranteed  constitutional  liberty  to  mankind?" 

This  tree  (to  adopt  the  figure  of  another)  may 
have,  to  prejudiced  eyes,  a  rought  bark,  gnarled  stem, 
and  boughs  twisted  often  into  knotted  shapes  of  un- 
graceful strength !  But,  remember,  Calvinism  is  not 
a  willow-wand  of  yesterday !  These  boughs  have 
wrestled  with  the  storms  of  a  thousand  years;  but 
they  hang  clad  with  all  that  is  richest  and  strongest 
in  the  civilization  and  Christianity  of  human  history. 
This  stem  has  been  wreathed  with  the  red  lightning 
and  scarred  by  the  thunderbolt,  and  all  over  its  rough 
rind  are  the  marks  of  the  battle  axe  and  the  bullet. 
This  old  oak  has  not  the  pliant  grace  and  silken  soft- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  193 

ness  of  a  greenhouse  plant!  But  it  has  a  majesty 
above  grace,  and  a  grandeur  beyond  beauty.  Its  roots 
may  be  rugged  and  strangely  contorted ;  but  some  of 
them  are  rich  with  the  blood  of  glorious  battlefields ; 
some  are  clasped  around  the  stakes  of  martyrs ;  some 
hidden  in  solitary  cells  and  lonely  libraries,  where  deep 
thinkers  have  mused  and  prayed,  as  in  some  apocalyptic 
Patmos ;  while  its  great  tap-root  runs  back,  until  it 
twines  in  living  and  loving  embrace  around  the  Cross 
of  Calvary ! 


Rev.  Sam'i.  A.  King,  D.  D., 
Austin,  Texas. 


HOW  FAR  HAS  ORIGINAL  CALVIN- 
ISM BEEN  MODIFIED  BY  TIME? 


Rev  Samuel  A.  King,  D.  D.  LL.  D., 

Austin   Theological  Seminary. 

This  year  of  grace,  1909,  is  being  made  notable  by 
celebrations  of  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  John  Calvin. 

In  this  session  of  our  Assembly  one  of  the  most ' 
elaborate  of  these  is  being  conducted,  and  not  only  the 
members  of  the  body  but  also  great  audiences  of  in- 
terested listeners  have  been  edified  and  delighted  by  ad- 
dresses in  which  the  history,  the  personality,  and  the  work 
of  the  great  Genevan  reformer  have  been  presented  by 
chosen  speakers  from  our  own  and  other  lands. 

The  all  but  world-wide  celebration  of  this  anniversary 
bears  eloquent  witness  to  the  greatness  and  the  worthi- 
ness of  a  man  whose  figure  was  tall  enough  to  cast  his 
shadow,  across  the  space  of  four  eventful  centuries, 
whose  influence  is  recognized  in  the  world  to-day,  and 
will  be  potent  in  directing  the  currents  of  human  thought 
and  the  movements  of  men  through  all  coming  time  until 
the  great  consummation,  when  it  shall  be  announced  in 
a  ransomed  earth  and  a  rejoicing  heaven  that  the  King- 
doms of  this  world  have  become  the  Kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  of  His  Christ. 

In  this  our  celebration  the  subject  assigned  to  me  is 
one  that  does  not  give  occasion  for  an  attractive  and 
popular  address;  mine  is  rather  a  prosaic  task  which  re- 


196  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

quires  the  statement,  and  to  some  extent  the  discussion 
of  doctrinal  tenets  and  systems — those  things  which  many 
have  chosen  to  designate  as  the  "dry  bones  of  theology." 

I  have  been  asked  to  discuss  the  question,  "How  far 
has  Original  Calvinism  Been  Modified  by  Time?" 

It  is  fitting  to  observe,  at  the  outset,  that  "Calvinism" 
did  not  originate  at  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  nor 
with  Calvin,  the  greatest  theologian  of  the  Reformation. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  specific  doctrines  which  con- 
stitute the  essence  of  the  system  denominated  "Calvin- 
ism" were  elaborately  set  forth  by  Augustine,  born  A.  D. 
353,  more  than  eleven  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of 
Calvin,  and  the  system  usually  styled  Calvinistic,  is  by 
many,  and  notably  by  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  almost  uni- 
formly spoken  of  as  the  Augustinian  doctrine.  Neither 
did  this  system  originate  with  the  illustrious  bishop  of 
Hippo.  Every  distinctive  doctrine  of  Calvinism  is  set 
forth  in  the  inspired  writings  of  Paul,  especially  in  the 
Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  the  Ephesians.  And  these 
were  not  new  doctrines  when  propounded  by  the  great 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  The  catchy  cry  in  our  times, 
"Back  to  Christ,"  in  most  cases  is  an  expression  of  the 
thought  that  by  going  back  to  the  personal  teachings  of 
our  Lord  an  escape  can  be  had  from  the  "hard  doc- 
trines" of  Paul.  But  when  recourse  is  had  to  the  words 
of  Christ  it  will  be  found  that  the  same  doctrines  con- 
cerning God's  sovereignty,  man's  depravity,  and  efifica- 
cious  grace,  are  as  plainly  taught  by  Christ  Himself  in 
Matt,  xi.,  Luke  iv.,  and  John  vi.,  xvii.,  as  in  any  of 
the  writings  of  Paul.  This  much  for  what  is  really 
"Original  Calvinism." 

To  define  the  phrase  in  its  popular  and  present  day 
use,  it  has  been  suggested  by  a  distinguished  theologian 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  197 

that  original  Calvinism  may  mean  either  "the  Calvinism 
of  John  Calvin  himself,  as  outlined  in  his  Institutes;  or 
as  contained  in  the  broad  concensus  of  the  Reformed 
Confessions  ;  or  the  common  teaching  of  the  doctors  of  the 
"Great  Age." 

In  trying  to  deal  with  this  subject,  I  shall  consider 
as  "original"  the  Calvinism  of  the  Institutes,  and  under- 
take to  show  that  there  are  "modifications"  of  two 
classes. 

(i)  Those  in  which  there  have  been  advances  made 
in  the  way  of  fuller  statement,  or  more  precise  expres- 
sion of  some  of  the  doctrines,  in  the  Reformed  Con- 
fessions than  is  found  in  the  Institutes;  and 

(2)  Proposed  "Modifications"  in  which  there  has 
been  a  departure  from  some  of  the  doctrines,  or  such 
a  weakening  of  them  as  to  seriously  affect  their  sound- 
ness as  part  of  the  system. 

Taking  up  in  order  the  subjects  thus  outlined,  it  is 
well  known  that  the  Institutes  contain  a  complete  sys- 
tem of  theology.  We  find  in  them  all  the  "departments" 
which  are  commonly  styled  theology  proper,  anthropo- 
logy, soteriology,  ecclesiology,  and  eschatology.  In  re- 
gard to  some  of  these  the  views  of  Calvin  and  of  Cal- 
vinists  are  virtually  in  harmony  with  those  held  by  the 
great  body  of  evangelical  Christians.  It  is  only  in  some 
of  these  departments  that  we  find  the  doctrines  which  are 
essentially  and  distinctively  "Calvinism." 

And  here  I  quote  a  passage  from  Principal  Cunning- 
ham, which  is  pertinent  and  suggestive:  He  says:  "The 
more  we  have  studied  these  subjects  the  more  have  we 
become  convinced  that  the  one  fundamental  principle  of 
Calvinism — that,  the  admission  of  which  constitutes  the 


198  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

real  line  of  demarcation  between  Calvinists  and  Anti- 
Calvinists  is,  the  doctrine  of  predestination  in  the  more 
limited  sense  of  the  word,  or  of  election,  as  descriptive 
of  the  substance  of  Scripture  with  regard  to  what  God 
has  decreed,  or  proposed  from  eternity  to  do,  and  does 
or  effects  in  time,  for  the  salvation  of  those  who  are 
saved ;  and  that  every  man  ought  to  be  held  by  others, 
and  ought  to  acknowledge  himself  to  be  a  Calvinist, 
who  believes  that  God  from  eternity  chose  some  men — 
certain  persons  of  the  human  race — absolutely  and  uncon- 
ditionally to  salvation  through  Christ,  and  that  He  ac- 
complishes this,  or  executes  this  decree  in  time  by  effect- 
ing and  securing  the  salvation  of  these  men  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace." 

(i)  In  treating  of  the  "Modifications"  of  the  first 
class,  I  would  place :  First,  the  Sub-lapsarian  doctrine  of 
the  decrees,  as  it  has  developed  and  formulated  since  the 
time  of  Calvin. 

Dr.  B.  B.  Warfield  (in  New  Schafif-Herzog  Enc.) 
names  three  "varieties  of  Calvinism,"  namely,  "Supra- 
lapsarianism,  Infra-lapsarianism,  and  Postredemptionism, 
all  of  which  take  their  start  from  a  fundamental  agreement 
in  the  principles  which  govern  the  system.  The  differ- 
ence between  these  various  tendencies  of  thought  within 
the  limits  of  the  system  turns  on  the  place  given  by  each 
to  the  doctrine  of  election,  in  the  logical  ordering  of  the 
'decrees  of  God.'  " 

Accepting  this  classification  as  correct  it  may  be  ex- 
plained, in  brief,  that  the  Supra-lapsarian  holds  that  God 
elected  some  and  rejected  others  out  of  uncreated  men; 
that  the  decree  of  election  preceded  (in  the  order  of 
thought)  the  decree  to  create  and  to  permit  the  fall.  The 
Infra  (or  Sub)  lapsarian  holds  that  out  of  the  mass  of 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  199 

men  regarded  as  created  and  fallen,  God  chose  some  to 
salvation ;  while  the  Postredemptionist  holds  that  out  of 
the  race  of  men  regarded  as  created,  fallen  and  re- 
deemed, God  chose  those  to  whom  the  universal  redemp- 
tion should  be  applied. 

In  this  connection  the  term  redemption  is  employed 
in  the  narrower  sense  of  the  "impetration  of  the  redemp- 
tion by  Christ." 

The  extreme  Supra-lapsarian  scheme  implies  that  God 
created  some  men  to  be  saved  and  others  to  be  "vessels 
of  wrath" — that  in  the  order  of  thought  election  and 
reprobation  precede  the  purpose  to  create  and  to  permit 
the  fall.  This  "hard  doctrine"  is  thought  by  many  to 
be  Calvinism,  pure  and  simple,  and  much  of  the  prejudice 
against  our  doctrine  is  due  to  this  mis-apprehension.  The 
fact  is,  it  was  never  held  by  any  considerable  number 
of  Calvinists.  There  are  no  Supra-lapsarian  confessions, 
and  while  some  do  not  distinctly  pronounce  against  either 
there  is  no  reformed  creed  that  can  be  quoted  as  in  favor 
of  Supra-lapsarianism.  At  the  present  day  it  would  not 
be  unsafe  to  say  that  not  one  in  a  hundred  of  Calvinists 
is  a  Supra-lapsarian. 

The  Sub-lapsarian  view  is  that  out  of  the  mass  of  men, 
all  fallen,  guilty,  depraved,  God  chose  a  great  number 
to  be  saved  through  the  redeeming  work  of  Christ  and 
the  effectual  application  of  its  benefits  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Dr.  Warfield  says:  "Not  only  does  no  confes- 
sion close  the  door  to  Infra-lapsarianism,  but  a  con- 
siderable number  explicitly  teach  Infra-lapsarianism, 
which  thus  emerges  as  the  typical  form  of  Calvinism." 

I  have  counted  this  as  one  of  the  "modifications"  of 
the  Calvinism  of  the  Institutes  for  the  reason  that  it  is 
a  disputed  question  as  to  which  of  the  two  views  was 


200  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

held  by  Calvin  himself.  I  think  it  fair  to  conclude  that 
neither  Supra  nor  Sub-lapsarian  can  claim  him  or  con- 
fidently appeal  to  the  Institutes.  The  question  had  not 
been  raised  in  his  day.  His  great  task  was  to  uphold 
the  doctrine  of  God's  sovereign  election  of  such  as  are 
saved,  unconditioned  by  foresight  of  faith,  or  good 
works,  or  anything  in  the  creature.  Hence,  with  this 
great  thought  uppermost  in  his  mind  it  is  not  strange 
that  he  employed  language  that  could  be  construed  by 
Supra-lapsarians  as  favoring  their  extreme  view,  while 
in  other  cases  his  words  can  be  plausibly  pleaded  by 
those  who  hold  the  view  now  prevalent.  Doctrines  are 
more  fully  apprehended  and  clearly  stated  as  the  result 
of  controversy,  and  in  the  fires  of  controversy  waged 
since  Calvin's  day  have  been  forged  the  more  exact 
formulas  in  which  the  Sub-lapsarian  doctrine  and  others 
of  the  system  are  now  set  forth. 

In  strictly  systematic  theology  the  subject  just  dis- 
cussed belongs  to  the  department  of  soteriology,  but  it 
is  intimately  related  to  an  important  feature  of  anthropo- 
logy, namely,  the  probation  in  Adam,  the  fall,  and  the 
effects  of  Adam's  first  sin  on  his  posterity. 

If  the  decree  of  election  contemplates  men  as  fallen, 
as  being  in  "an  estate  of  sin  and  misery,"  it  is  an  im- 
portant inquiry  as  to  how  they  came  into  this  hapless 
condition.  This  estate,  in  all  its  elements,  is  accounted 
for  by  the  doctrines  of  the  Federal  theology.  Hence  I 
hold  that : 

(2)  The  Second  of  the  Modifications  of  the  original 
Calvinism  of  the  Institutes  is  the  view  known  as  the 
"Federal  Scheme"  according  to  which  we  "sinned  in 
Adam  and  fell  with  him,"  as  being  not  simply  the  natural 
but  Federal  head  of  the  race. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  201 

This  doctrine,  elaborated  by  Cocceius,  born  ninety- 
four  years  after  Calvin,  was  wrought  into  the  system  of 
theology  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  and  has  been  ably 
expounded  by  such  men  as  Turretin,  and  Witsius  on  the 
Continent ;  Chalmers  and  Cunningham  in  Scotland ;  and 
by  the  two  Hodges,  Breckinridge,  Thornwell,  and  Dab- 
ney  in  America. 

Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge  says:  "In  Holland,  England  and 
Scotland,  Calvinism  has  been  modified  in  form  by  the 
Federal  Scheme,  introduced  by  Cocceius  and  the  West- 
minster divines." 

Dr.  Shedd  says  that  "Turretin  marks  the  transition 
from  the  cider  to  later  Calvinism — from  the  theory  of 
the  Adamic  Union  to  the  Adamic  representation. 

I  think  it  manifest  that  in  this  Federal  Scheme  we 
have  a  modification  of  the  theology  of  Calvin,  a  fuller 
and  clearer  view  of  our  relation  to  Adam,  and  of  the 
ground  of  our  condemnation  as  having  "sinned  in  him 
and  fallen  with  him"  as  our  covenant  representative. 

I  think  that  Calvin  came  near  to  this,  but  did  not 
clearly  perceive  and  grasp  it. 

Why  should  we  wonder  that  he  did  not  see  all  the 
truth?  He  himself  modestly  said:  "God  hath  never 
favored  His  servants  with  so  great  a  benefit  that  they 
were  all  endued  with  full  and  perfect  knowledge  in 
everything."  The  wonder  is  that  he  had  so  much  more 
full  and  perfect  knowledge  than  any  other  of  his  age! 

Dr.  Thornwell,  a  great  admirerer,  in  his  analysis  of 
Calvin's  Institutes,  says:  "Federal  representation  was 
not  seized  as  it  should  be,  but  rather  a  mystic  realism  in 
place  of  it." 

We  find  some  germs  of  the  doctrine  in  the  Institutes, 
but  that  is  all.     In  Book  II.,  Chapter  I.,  on  the  "Fall  of 


202  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Adam  the  Cause  of  the  Curse  on  all  Mankind,  and 
the  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin,"  he  defines  this  last  as 
"an  hereditary  pravity  and  corruption  of  our  nature, 
diffused  through  all  the  parts  of  the  soul,  rendering  us 
obnoxious  to  the  divine  wrath,  and  producing  in  us  those 
works  which  the  Scripture  calls  the  works  of  the  flesh." 
In  the  same  chapter  he  says,  "Our  ruin  must  be  imputed 
to  the  corruption  of  our  nature." 

Again  he  says:  "When  it  is  said  that  the  sin  of 
Adam  renders  us  obnoxious  to  the  divine  judgment,  it 
is  not  to  be  understood  as  if  we,  though  innocent,  were 
undeservedly  loaded  with  the  guilt  of  his  sin,  but  because 
we  are  all  subject  to  a  curse  in  consequence  of  his  trans- 
gression, he  is  therefore  said  to  have  involved  us  in 
guilt.  Nevertheless  we  derive  from  him  not  only  the 
punishment,  but  also  the  pollution  to  which  the  punish- 
ment is  justly  due." 

In  Section  7,  he  says:  "The  Lord  deposited  with 
Adam  the  ornaments  He  chose  to  confer  on  the  human 
nature,  and  therefore  when  he  lost  the  favors  he  had 
received  he  lost  them  not  only  for  himself  but  for  us 
all."  Later  he  says,  "These  ornaments  were  given,  not 
to  one  man  only,  but  to  the  whole  human  nature."  Here, 
and  especially  in  the  last  two  quotations,  we  find  the 
germs  of  the  Federal  connection,  but  they  are  obscured 
by  that  predominant  idea  of  the  realistic  union  with 
Adam  which  Dr.  Thornwell  calls  a  "mystic  realism." 

Calvin  lays  the  principal  stress  on  the  corruption  of 
the  nature.  He  finds  here  a  ground  sufficient  for  the 
guilt  and  the  punishment  in  which  men  are  involved.  He 
does  not  clearly  grasp  the  truth  that  the  sinfulness  of 
our  estate  consists  in  the  guilt  of  Adam's  first  sin,  and 
(as  the  result  of  that)  the  want  of  original  righteous- 
ness and  the  corruption  of  the  whole  nature. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  203 

The  "present  truth"  which  Calvin  was  zealous  to 
maintain,  as  against  the  contentions  of  his  great  op- 
ponent Pighius,  as  well  as  others,  was  the  transmission 
and  universal  prevalence  of  a  depraved  moral  nature ; 
to  this  he  gave  special  prominence  and  not  to  the  im- 
putation of  Adam's  sin  which  was  not  then  a  matter  of 
controversy. 

The  doctrine  of  the  "immediate  imputation"  of 
Adam's  sin  was  not  clearly  articulated  in  the  time  of 
the  reformers.  It  was  brought  out  later  in  the  discus- 
sion of  the  "Mediate  Imputation"  theory  of  Placeus. 
When  the  Westminster  Confession  was  written  the  dis- 
tinction between  immediate  and  mediate  had  not  emerged, 
as  it  did  a  little  later.  The  statement  of  doctrine  in 
the  Confession,  Chapter  VI.,  is  not  so  definite  as  in  the 
answers  to  questions  16  and  18  of  the  Shorter  Catechism. 
In  the  latter  the  guilt  of  Adam's  sin  is  the  first  element 
in  the  sinfulness  of  our  lost  estate.  Following  this  (and 
as  a  penal  consequence  of  this),  are  the  want  of  original 
righteousness,  and  the  corruption  of  the  whole  nature. 
It  logically  follows  that  guilt  is  the  cause  of  depravity — 
depravity  the  consequence  of  guilt. 

The  fact  noted  above,  that  the  catechism  states  more 
clearly  the  doctrine  of  imputation  than  does  the  confes- 
sion may  perhaps  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact,  to  which 
Principal  Cunningham  calls  attention,  that  a  year  in- 
tervened between  the  completion  of  the  Confession  and 
that  of  the  Catechisms.  In  that  time  the  Westminster  di- 
vines may  have  become  familiar  with  the  discussions  on 
the  Continent  over  the  placcan  theory  of  "Mediate  Im- 
putation," and  hence  were  led  to  make  a  more  precise 
statement  in  the  Catechisms.  If  this  were  the  case  it  is 
another  instance  in  which  the   formulated  statement  of 


204  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

a  doctrine  is  modified  into  a  more  perfect  form  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  closer  examination  'brought  about  by 
controversy. 

In  this  matter  of  our  relation  to  Adam  and  the  con- 
sequences resulting  therefrom  we  have  seen  how  the 
"Federal  Scheme"  enables  us  to  deal  with  all  the  facts. 
This  scheme,  as  found  in  the  Scriptures  and  wrought 
into  the  Westminster  Confession,  enables  us  to  clearly 
grasp  and  arrange  into  system  all  the  facts  and  doctrines 
concerning  the  ruin  in  Adam  and  the  redemption  in 
Christ.  Two  great  covenants,  the  first,  that  of  works ; 
the  second,  of  grace,  like  the  two  pillars  of  Jachin  and 
Boaz,  stands  at  the  door  of  the  Temple  of  Truth,  and 
through  these  we  must  pass  in  order  to  learn  what  we 
are  to  believe  concerning  anthropology  and  soteriology. 

The  development  of  Federal  theology,  and  its  articu- 
late confessional  statement,  may  be  justly  esteemed  as 
the  most  important  "modification"  of  "Original  Cal- 
vinism" since  the  days  of  Calvin. 

(3)  The  Third  modification,  of  the  first  class,  we 
may  consider  as  having  been  developed  in  Scotland. 
This  old  land  is  the  "Mother  Country"  of  modern  Pres- 
byterianism.  There  have  been  sharp  and  protracted  con- 
troversies regarding  doctrine  waged  by  Scottish  theolo- 
gians, and  there  have  resulted  therefrom  some  modifica- 
tions in  the  matter  and  form  of  particular  doctrines  of  the 
Calvinistic  system. 

In  the  limits  I  must  observe  I  cannot  undertake  to 
treat  of  these  in  detail,  even  were  I  sufficiently  informed 
to  do  the  subject  justice.  I  shall  avail  myself  of  some 
information  furnished  by  Dr.  James  Orr,  whom  we  have 
been  privileged  to  have  with  us  on  this  occasion,  and 
who  has  favored  us  with  an  able  and  appreciated  address. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  205 

In  a  magazine  article  in  which  he  had  specially  in 
view  to  give  some  notes  on  the  doctrinal  position  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church,  he  outlines  the  various  con- 
troversies that  have  been  waged  over  doctrinal  issues. 

He  says,  "Our  controversies  move  uniformly  around 
two  poles — the  assertion  of  the  sovereign  grace  of  God 
in  salvation,  on  one  hand  (including  election  to  eternal 
life  and  the  special  bearing  of  the  atonement  of  Christ 
on  the  saving  of  His  own)  ;  and  the  assertion  of  the  ful- 
ness and  freeness  of  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  to 
sinners,  on  the  other,  on  the  ground  of  the  deed  of  gift 
or  grant  of  Christ  to  mankind — sinners,  as  such  (a  uni- 
versal as  well  as  a  special  aspect  in  Christ's  atonement). 
The  former  side  of  doctrine  comes  from  the  general  Cal- 
vinistic  strain  of  the  Westminster  theology ;  the  latter 
strives  to  a  broader  conception  of  the  gospel  than  the 
Westminster  Standards  contain,  and  ultimately  reaches 
it  in  the  statements  of  our  Declaratory  Act  of  1879." 
He  adds,  "It  may  be  thought  by  some  that  the  older 
and  more  distinctive  note  in  our  theology  has  been  al- 
together left  behind.  That,  we  believe,  is  a  mistake. 
Divested  of  the  forms,  and  minute,  and  sometimes  hair- 
splitting, distinctions  in  which  our  fathers  invested  it, 
the  doctrine  of  sovereign  grace  in  the  calling,  regenera- 
tion, and  final  salvation  of  a  sinner — moving  back,  as  this 
must  do,  on  an  eternal  counsel  of  God  in  which  it  was 
embraced — is  not  to  be  got  rid  of,  or  expunged  from  our 
theology  without  serious  impoverishment  and  harm.  But 
even  brighter  than  this  in  the  testimony  of  our  church 
shines  its  witness  to  the  full,  free,  and  unrestricted  char- 
acter of  Christ's  salvation,  as  based  on  the  all-suflficiency 
of  His  atoning  sacrifice,  and  the  will  of  God  gifting 
Him  to  mankind." 


2o6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

I  will  only  note  Dr.  Orr's  outline  of  the  various  stages 
of  the  controversy  without  attempting  to  embody  his 
luminous  statement  of  particulars  under  each  head. 

He  says,  "The  course  which  controversy  has  fol- 
lowed as  between  these  two  poles  of  doctrine  may  be 
thus  indicated: 

(i)  There  was  a  struggle  for  the  recognition  of  the 
freeness  of  the  gospel  message  as  based  on  the  gift  of 
men  universally — to  "mankind-sinners  as  such,"  as  the 
phrase  was. 

(2)  The  next  stage  shows  the  other  pole  in  the  as- 
cendant in  the  act  against  Arminian  Errors,  the  object 
of  which  was  to  assert  the  special  suretyship  and  rela- 
tion of  Christ  in  His  death  to  His  own  people — that  is 
to  those  whom  God  has  given  Him,  and  who  are  ac- 
tually saved  by  His  atonement. 

(3)  The  third  period  is  that  of  attempted  adjustment 
of  these  two  sides,  with,  again,  a  special  prominence  to 
the  universal  relation  of  Christ's  work  to  mankind.  This 
is  the  period  of  atonement  controversies  in  the  secession 
church,  ending  in  the  separation  from  the  church  of  the 
Rev.  James  Morrison  and  his  sympathizers  (1841-3)  and 
in  the  vindication  of  Drs.  Balmer  and  Brown. 

(4)  The  last  stage  is  that  of  the  definite  triumph  of 
the  larger  and  more  Scriptural  view  in  the  assertion 
(from  which  the  church  had  hitherto  held  back),  in  the 
Declaratory  Act  of  1879,  of  the  love  of  God  to  all  man- 
kind, His  gift  of  His  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  the  free  offer  of  salvation 
to  men  without  distinction  on  the  ground  of  Christ's 
perfect  sacrifice.  This  may,  as  the  article  affirms,  be 
in  consistency  with  the  church's  earlier  teaching,  but  the 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  207 

truth  had  certainly  (especially  as  regards  the  love)  never 
been  so  fully  or  unambiguously  expressed.  The  Act  con- 
tains other  adjustments,  helping  to  bring  the  statements 
of  the  creed  into  fuller  harmony  with  the  living  faith 
of  the  church." 

It  may  be  here  remarked  that  controversies  in  our 
country  have  followed  much  the  same  lines  as  those  in- 
dicated above,  and  the  results  have  not  been  widely  dif- 
ferent. Our  ministers,  who  accept  the  old  Standards 
without  any  revision  or  Declaratory  Statement,  feel  no 
hesitancy  in  extending  "the  free  offer  of  salvation  to  men 
without  distinction  on  the  ground  of  Christ's  perfect 
sacrifice,"  and  they  feel  that  they  can  do  this  "in  consis- 
tency with  the  church's  earlier  teachings,"  and  in  har- 
mony with  "the  living  faith  of  the  church"  and  of  the 
greatest  among  Calvinistic  theologians. 

In  years  past  there  were  protracted  controversies  con- 
cerning "limited  atonement"  and  "general  atonement," 
but  the  most  staunch  advocates  of  the  first  were  ready 
to  avow  that  Christ's  sacrifice  furnished  the  basis  for  a 
universal  offer  of  salvation ;  while  zealous  champions  of 
the  second  were  free  to  admit  that  in  the  divine  purpose 
are  effectually  called.  Many  of  the  differences  were  more 
verbal  than  essential.  Each  party  looked  too  exclusively 
on  one  side  of  the  shield. 

Proceeding  now  to  consider  the  second  class  of  "modi- 
fications"— those  which  modify  "original  Calvinism,"  we 
will  notice : 

(i)  First,  the  views  advanced  by  the  French  theo- 
logians of  the  Saumur  School. 

I  quote  again  from  Dr.  Warfield:  "The  first  im- 
portant modification  of  the  Calvinistic  system  which  has 
retained  a  position  within  its  limits  was  made   in  the 


2o8  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  by  the  professors  of 
the  French  School  at  Saumur,  and  is  hence  called  Sal- 
murianism  of  Amyraldism,  or  hypothetical  universalism." 
Dr.  Warfield  has  elsewhere  remarked  that  "It  is  odd 
that  all  the  modifications  of  Calvinism — if  we  include 
Pajon's  views — had  their  expression  at  Saumur." 

Two  of  the  most  noted  professors  of  this  school  were 
Placeus  and  Amyraut.  We  have  already  taken  note  of 
the  Placean  theory  of  Mediate  Imputation.  Amyraut 
propounded  the  theory  denominated  "Hypothetical  Uni- 
versalism." The  leading  features  of  his  scheme  were  that 
the  motive  impelling  God  to  redeem  men  was  benevo- 
lence, or  love  to  men  in  general — that  He  sent  His  Son 
to  make  the  salvation  of  all  men  possible — that  salva- 
tion is  offered  to  all  men  if  they  believe  on  Christ,  and 
that  all  men  have  natural  ability  to  repent  and  believe — 
but  this  ability  is  counteracted  by  a  moral  inability — and 
that  out  of  the  mass  of  depraved  but  redeemed  men 
God  determined  to  give  efficacious,  saving  grace,  to  a 
certain  number  of  the  human  race.  The  advocates  of 
this  view  belong  to  the  class  of  post-redemptionists. 

Dr.  Charles  Hodge  says  of  this  scheme  that,  "It  was 
designed  to  take  a  middle  ground  between  Augustinianism 
and  Arminianism,  but  that  it  is  liable  to  the  objections 
which  press  on  both  systems." 

He  also  says  that  "this  theory  soon  passed  away  as 
far  as  the  Reformed  Churches  in  Europe  were  con- 
cerned. Its  advocates  either  returned  to  the  old  doctrine, 
or  passed  on  to  the  more  advanced  system  of  the  Ar- 
minians.  In  this  country  it  has  been  reviewed  and  ex- 
tensively adopted." 

Dr.  Hodge  forcibly  sets  forth  the  objections  to  the 
scheme.     Dr.  Dabney  suggests  as  a  chief  objection  that 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  209 

"It  represents  Christ  as  not  purchasing  for  His  people 
the  grace  of  effectual  calling,  by  which  they  are  per- 
suaded and  enabled  'to  embrace  redemption,  whereas 
Scripture  represents  that  this  gift,  along  with  all  other 
graces  of  redemption,  is  given  us  in  Christ,  having  been 
purchased  for  His  people  by  Him."  Dr.  Warfield  says, 
"This  modification  received  the  condemnation  of  the 
contemporary  reformed  world." 

I  am  treating  somewhat  at  length  this  Saumurian 
view  of  redemption  for  the  reason  that  "in  this  country 
it  has  been  revived  and  extensively  adopted,"  and  that 
nearly  "all  the  modifications  of  Calvinism  find  their  ex- 
l)ression  at  Saumur."  It  has  been  wrought  into  the  New 
England  and  the  Cumberland  theology,  which  will  later 
claim  out  attention. 

In  this,  as  in  most  unsound  systems  of  doctrine,  its 
chief  dangerous  tendency  lies  in  the  element  of  truth  it 
contains.  No  system  that  is  totally  erroneous  is  to  be 
feared.  In  this  scheme  God's  universal  benevolence  is 
emphasized,  and  also  the  fact  that  the  atoning  sacrifice 
of  Christ  is  sufficient  for  all  the  world.  Now,  God's 
general  benevolence  is  not  questioned  by  any,  and  neither 
Calvin  nor  any  later  Calvinist  has  doubted  or  denied  that 
the  merit  of  Christ's  sacrifice  is  sufficient  for  all  men, 
or  that  the  offers  of  the  gospel  are  to  be  made  to  every 
man.  But  according  to  the  system  under  review,  while 
all  men  are  made  salvable  by  the  atoning  death  of  Christ, 
it  does  not  make  certain  the  salvation  of  any.  Calvinists 
of  the  straitest  sect,  like  Dr.  Shedd  and  Dr.  Dabney, 
hold  that  Christ's  satisfaction  is  unlimited  in  its  suffi- 
ciency, but  that  its  efficacious  application  is  limited  to 
those  who  are  the  subjects  of  "particular  redemption." 
Dr.  Dabney  well  says  that  "Had  God  elected  all  sinners 


210  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

there  would  have  been  no  necessity  to  make  Christ's 
atoning  sacrifice  essentially  different.  Remember,  the 
limitation  is  precisely  in  the  decree,  and  no  where  else. 
The  vagueness  and  ambiguity  of  the  term  atonement  has 
very  much  complicated  the  debate.  This  word  is  used 
sometimes  for  satisfaction  for  guilt,  sometimes  for  the 
reconciliation  ensuing  therefrom,  until  men  on  both  sides 
have  forgotten  the  distinction.  The  one  is  cause ;  the 
other,  effect.  The  only  New  Testament  sense  the  word 
atonement  has  is  that  of  reconciliation.  But  expiation 
is  another  idea.  Expiation,  in  itself  considered,  has  no 
more  relation  to  one  man's  sin  than  another.  As  it  is 
applied  in  effectual  calling,  it  becomes  personal,  and  re- 
ceives a  limitation.  But  in  itself,  limitation  is  irrelevant 
to  it.  Hence,  when  men  use  the  word  atonement,  as  they 
often  do,  in  the  sense  of  expiation,  the  phrases  "limited 
atonement,"  "particular  atonement"  have  no  meaning. 
Redemption  is  limited,  i.  e.,  to  true  believers,  and  is 
particular.   •  Expiation  is  not  limited." 

To  the  same  effect  Dr.  Shedd  says:  "Atonement 
must  be  distinguished  from  redemption.  The  latter  term 
includes  the  application  of  the  atonement.  It  is  the  term 
'redemption,'  not  'atonement,'  which  is  found  in  those 
statements  that  speak  of  the  work  of  Christ  as  limited 
by  the  decree  of  election."  "The  use  of  the  term  re- 
demption is  attended  with  less  ambiguity  than  that  of 
atonement,  and  it  is  the  term  most  commonly  employed 
in  controversial  theology.  Atonement  is  unlimited,  and 
redemption  is  limited." 

These  quotations  are  from  the  works  of  great  "mas- 
ters in  Israel"  who  held  and  taught  the  Calvinism  of  the 
Reformed  Confessions.  The  views  they  expressed  are 
held  in  our  Presbyterian  Church  to-day.     We  do  not 


Calvin  in  His  Study. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  211 

believe,  with  those  who  have  adopted  or  absorbed  the 
Saumur  theory,  that  Christ,  by  His  expiatory  death, 
merely  made  all  men  salvable,  and  that  He  had  no  special 
purpose  to  have  any  in  particular.  While  we  believe  that 
His  expiation  is  sufficient  for  all,  it  is  efficient  for  the 
reconciliation  (the  at-one-ment)  of  the  people  given  to 
Him,  who,  being  the  object  of  God's  "everlasting  love" 
have  therefore  with  "loving-kindness"  been  drawn  by 
efficacious  grace  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  freely  offered 
to  all  men  in  the  Gospel. 

Thorough  Calvinists,  while  gladly  proclaiming  that 
"whosoever  will  may  come,  and  take  of  the  water  of 
life  freely"  do  fully  accept  the  doctrine  that  "the  Lord 
Jesus,  by  His  perfect  obedience  and  sacrifice  of  Him- 
self, hath  fully  satisfied  the  justice  of  His  Father;  and 
purchased  not  only  reconciliation,  but  an  everlasting  in- 
heritance in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  for  all  those  whom 
the  Father  hath  given  unto  Him."  He  not  only  makes 
their  salvation  possible,  but  "He  saves  His  people  from 
their  sins" — not  only  from  the  penalty,  but  from  the  polu- 
tion  and  the  power  of  sin. 

(2)  The  Second  modification  of  this  class  is  found 
in  what  is  styled  the  New  England  Theology. 

This  name  is  given  to  theological  tenets  that  have 
been  widely  accepted  and  given  shape  to  the  doctrinal 
views  of  many  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists 
in  the  United  States. 

The  name  is  derived  from  the  fact  that  the  men 
who  promulgated  these  tenets  were  New  England 
divines. 

"The  term  must  be  used  in  a  sense  sufficiently  wide 
and  vague  to  include  different  types  of  doctrine  his- 
torically   associated    with    various    individual    divines, 


212  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

and  with  the  Andover,  New  Haven,  and  East  Windsor 
(now  Hartford)  Schools."  Many  distinguished  names 
are  found  among  the  advocates  of  this  theology,  among 
them,  Edwards,  Bellamy  and  Hopkins,  "the  great  tri- 
umvirate," and  in  recent  times,  Leonard  Woods,  Ly- 
man Beecher,  Albert  Barnes,  N.  W.  Taylor  and 
Edwards  A.  Park. 

The  principal  tenets  of  this  type  of  theology  may 
be  summarized  as  follows: 

All  the  acts  of  God,  even  those  which  seem  to  be 
the  sternest,  are  forms  of  infinite  benevolence,  and 
are  reducible  to  a  choice  of  the  greatest  and  highest 
good  of  universal  being.  God  is  a  sovereign,  that  is. 
He  does  what  He  chooses  to  do  because  His  choice 
is  infinite  benevolence,  securing  the  greatest  and  high- 
est well-being  of  the  universe. 

Holiness  and  sin  are  not  passive  states,  but  they 
are  acts  of  the  will.  They  are  free  acts  and  imply  that 
the  agent's  power  to  render  obedience,  and  avoid  dis- 
obedience to  the  moral  law,  is  commensurate  with 
his  obligation  to  render  the  one  and  to  avoid  the 
other.  Man's  sinfulness  is  a  consequence  of  Adam's 
apostasy.  The  sin  of  Adam  is  not  literally  "imputed"' 
to  us.  We  are  not  punished  for  it,  although,  on  ac- 
count of  it,  we  suffer  evils  which  represent  God's 
abhorrence  of  sin,  and  signify  His  determination  to 
inflict  the  legal  penalty  on  those  who  persist  in  com- 
mitting it.  We,  however,  do  not  suffer  a  legal  penalty 
for  any  sin  which  does  not  consist  in  our  free  choice. 

"The  term  'original  sin'  is  not  a  favorite  one  with 
the  New  England  theologians.  It  is  entirely  disap- 
proved by  one  class  of  them,  and  is  variously  defined 
by  other  classes."     As  to  the  Atonement:   the   suffer- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  213 

ings,  and  especially  the  death  of  Christ,  were  sacri- 
ficial ;  were  not  the  penalty  of  law,  but  were  equiva- 
lent to  it ;  were  representative  of  it,  and  substituted 
for  it.  The  demands  of  the  law  were  not  satisfied  by 
it,  but  the  honor  of  the  law  was  promoted  by  it  as 
much  as  by  the  infliction  of  the  legal  penalty  on 
the  elect.  The  distributive  justice  of  God  was  not 
satisfied  by  it,  but  His  general  justice  was  statisfied 
perfectly. 

The  atonement  was  designed  for  the  welfare  of 
all  men;  to  make  the  salvation  of  all  men  possible;  to 
remove  all  the  obstacles  which  the  honor  of  the  law 
and  distributive  justice  presented  against  the  non- 
elect,  as  well  as  the  elect.  The  atonement  is  useful 
on  men's  account,  and  in  order  to  furnish  new  motives 
to  holiness,  but  it  is  necessary  on  God's  account  to 
enable  Him,  as  a  consistent  Ruler,  to  pardon  any,  even 
the  smallest  sin,  and  therefore  to  bestow  on  sinners 
any,  even  the  smallest  favor. 

As  to  man's  natural  ability:  Not  without  the  com- 
mon influence,  but  without  the  supernatural  influence  of 
God,  a  man  has,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  the 
power  to  repent  of  his  sin ;  but  it  is  infallibly  certain 
that  he  never  will  use  this  power  in  repenting.  His 
natural  ability  does  not  lessen  his  dependence  on  the 
special  interposition  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  any,  even 
the  smallest  degree  of  holiness. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  this  system  is  a 
"modification"  of  the  Calvinism  of  the  Reformed 
Confessions. 

According  to  these  views  God  did  not  "for  His  oivn 
glory  fore-ordain  whatsoever  comes  to  pass,"  but  had 
supreme  regard  to  the  "well-being  of  the  universe." 
"This  is  the  greatest  happiness"  theory. 


214  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

In  its  Anthropology  there  is  a  decided  slant  to- 
wards Pelagianism ;  a  denial  of  the  sinfulness  of  states 
as  well  as  of  acts — a  virtual  acceptance  of  the  dictum 
that  "all  sin  consists  in  sinning,"  or  in  personal,  vol- 
untary transgression,  and  obligation  is  limited  by 
ability. 

The  imputation  of  the  guilt  of  Adam's  sin  is  dis- 
carded, and  it  is  fairly  implied  that  the  "consequences" 
of  his  fall  come  upon  his  posterity  rather  as  calamities 
than  as  penal  inflictions  visited  on  us  because  we 
sinned  in  him  and  fell  with  him. 

In  this  scheme  the  atonement  is  not  strictly  vicari- 
ous— Christ's  death  did  not  "fully  satisfy  the  justice 
of  His  Father,"  nor  "pay  the  debt  we  owe."  We  have 
rather  the  indefinite  universalism  of  Amyraut,  the 
"moral  influence"  theory  of  Abelard,  and  the  "govern- 
mental theory"  of  Grotius.  In  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement  "the  life  is  in  the  blood,"  and  the  old,  old 
story  "satisfies  our  longings"  because  Christ  "bore  our 
sins  in  His  own  body  on  the  tree,"  and  hath  "re- 
deemed us  to  God  by  His  blood." 

(3.)  The  Third  modification  to  be  noted  is  in  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  theology.  This  is  invested 
with  special  interest  because  of  the  recent  union  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  with  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  U.  S.  A.,  and  the  doctrinal  basis  on 
which  it  was  effected. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  began  its 
existence  in  A.  D.  1810,  with  a  single  presbytery.  A 
S3mod  consisting  of  three  presbyteries  was  formed  in 
1813,  and  a  general  assembly  in  1829.  A  Confession 
of  Faith  was  adopted  by  the  synod  in  18 14,  and  this 
was  revised  and  adopted  by  the  general  assembly  in 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  215 

1883.  This  Confession,  as  said  by  Dr.  M.  B.  DeWitt, 
is  "a  modification  of  the  Westminster  Confession." 
It  was  an  attempt,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Saumur  School, 
to  find  a  middle  ground  between  Calvinism  and  Ar- 
minianism — to  introduce  a  "Medium  Theology.'  That 
it  did  "modify"  the  old  Confession  is  easily  discovered 
by  reference  to  the  teachings  concerning  the  Decrees 
of  God,  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  the  work  of  Christ,  the 
Mediator,  Divine  Influence  (substituted  for  Effectual 
Calling),  Repentance,  Faith,  and  Regeneration. 

While  this  was  a  Presbyterian  Church,  it  was  not 
Calvinistic,  as  is  evidenced  not  only  by  its  Confession, 
but  also  by  the  testimony  of  competent  men  within 
and  without  its  fold.  Dr.  A.  B.  Miller,  a  distinguished 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  minister,  wrote:  "Nothing 
that  can  be  said  negatively  of  the  doctrinal  system  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  is  more  true  or  more 
characteristic  of  it  than  that  it  is  un-Calvinistic." 
Again  he  says:  "The  Confession,  as  adopted  in  1829, 
and  still  more  fully  as  revised  in  1883,  is  in  irrecon- 
cilable antagonism  to  the  obvious  and  historic  sense 
of  the  Westminister  Confession."  Dr.  W.  H.  Roberts, 
in  1889,  in  a  carefully  prepared  paper,  said  of  the  Cum- 
berlanders :  "Presbyterians  in  government  they  are, 
but  Calvinists  in  doctrine  they  are  not."  In  the  same 
paper  he  designates  tlierti  as  a  "distinctly  Arminian 
body,"  and  that  "Cumberland  revision  led  inevitably 
to  Arminianism." 

Dr.  F.  R.  Beattie  said  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church  that  "It  modified  the  doctrine  of  the 
Confession  in  regard  to  predestination,  so  as  to  be- 
come virtually  Arminian ;  while  it  retains  a  Presbyte- 
rian polity.  It  is  really  an  Arminian  Presbyterian 
Church." 


2i6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Dr.  B.  B.  Warfield,  in  his  able  discussion  of  the 
revision  of  the  Confession,  A.  D.  1903,  speaks  of  the 
historically  Cumberland  view  as  "the  distinctive  Ar- 
minian  view" ;  and  in  reference  to  the  "Supplemental 
Report"  of  the  Cumberland  committee  he  says :  "What- 
ever else  this  document  leaves  obscure,  or  does  its 
best  to  obscure,  this  at  least  it  makes  clear:  that  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  is  Arminian  to  the 
core — that  is  to  say,  so  far  as  it  is  represented  by  this 
representative  document." 

These  testimonies  as  to  the  unCalvinistic  character 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Confession  are  ot 
special  interest  in  view  of  history  that  has  been  made 
since  1903.  Up  to  that  time,  in  large  sections  of  our 
country,  as  in  the  State  in  which  it  has  been  my  lot 
to  labor  in  the  ministry  for  more  than  fifty  years,  the 
Cumberland  and  our  "old  Presbyterian"  Churches  ex- 
isted side  by  side.  They,  and  we,  recognized  the  fact 
that  we  did  not  hold  the  same  beliefs — that  our 
churches  were  separated  by  distinct  doctrinal  lines, 
marked  out  in  our  respective  Confessions  of  Faith. 
Yet  we  worked,  and  preached,  and  prayed  together  in 
Christian  fellowship,  "agreeing  to  disagree"  in  the 
points  which  separated  us,  and  "endeavoring  to  keep 
the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."  But  we 
are  now  confronted  with  a  changed  condition.  In  the 
year  1903  the  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  adoptea 
a  revision  of  the  Confession  together  with  a  Declara- 
tory Statement,  and  two  additional  chapters.  The 
large  and  able  committee  which  prepared  these,  acted 
under  the  instruction  that  "the  revision  should  in  no 
way  impair  the  integrity  of  the  system  of  doctrine  set 
forth  in  the  Confession,  and  taught  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures." 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  217 

I  am  one  of  those  who  beUeve  that  the  committee 
kept  within  the  bounds  assigned.  While  I  must  say, 
in  candor,  that  I  do  not  think  the  revision  was  needed 
or  helpful,  yet  I  agree  with  those  who  have  contended 
that  it  did  not  materially  "impair  the  integrity  of  the 
system  of  doctrine  set  forth  in  the  Confession." 

But  later  developments  have  given  special  interest 
to  this  revision.  In  the  year  of  its  adoption,  1903, 
negotiations  were  set  on  foot  looking  to  a  union  of  the 
U.  S.  A.  Church  with  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  After  full  consideration,  and  observance  of 
all  the  required  preliminaries,  the  union  was  effected 
on  a  basis  mutually  agreed  upon,  and  in  1906  the  two 
assemblies  formally  announced  the  consummation. 

This  union  was  effected  on  "the  doctrinal  basis  of 
the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
U.  S.  A.,  as  revised  in  1903,  and  of  its  other  doctrinal 
and  ecclesiastical  standards,"  with  aclaiowledgment  of 
the  Scriptures  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
practice. 

A  series  of  Concurrent  Resolutions  were  also 
adopted,  in  the  first  of  which  it  was  declared  that  "in 
adopting  the  Confession,  as  revised  in  1903,  it  is  mu- 
tually recognized  that  such  agreement  now  exists  be- 
tween the  systems  of  doctrine  contained  in  the  Confes- 
sions of  the  two  churches  as  to  warrant  this  union — 
a  union  honoring  alike  to  both."  It  was  also  recog- 
nized that  liberty  of  belief  exists  by  virtue  of  the 
Declaratory  Statement,  which  is  part  of  the  Confession 
of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  and 
which  states  that  the  ordination  vows  of  ministers, 
elders,  and  deacons  requires  the  reception  and  adoption 
of  the   Confession  only  as   containing  the   system   of 


2i8  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  This  Hberty 
is  specifically  secured  by  the  Declaratory  Statement  as 
to  Chap.  Ill,  and  Chap.  X,  Sec.  3,  of  the  Confession. 
It  was  also  recognized  that  the  doctrinal  deliverance 
contained  in  the  Brief  Statement  of  the  Reformed 
Faith,  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly,  U.  S.  A.,  in 
1902,  reveals  a  doctrinal  agreement  favorable  to  re- 
union." 

In  a  final  deliverance  by  the  assembly  in  1906,  after 
reciting  the  language  concerning  liberty  of  subscrip- 
tion, it  is  asserted  that  "inasmuch  as  the  two  assem- 
blies meeting  in  1904  did  declare  that  there  was  then 
a  sufficient  agreement  in  the  systems  of  doctrine  con- 
tained in  the  Confessions  of  the  two  churches  to  war- 
rant the  union  of  the  churches,  therefore  the  change  of 
doctrinal  Standards  resulting  from  the  union  involves 
no  change  of  belief  on  the  part  of  any  who  were  min- 
isters, ruling  elders,  or  deacons  in  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church." 

I  have  adduced  this  record  because  in  treating  the 
subject  assigned  me  I  have  felt  obligated  to  note  the 
historical  facts  recited.  I  feel  that  it  is  a  delicate  task 
to  deal  with  these  matters  of  such  recent  date,  and  in 
which  the  parties  are  contemporary  and  fellow-laborers 
with  ourselves.    The  facts  involved  are  these : 

(a)  The  Cumberland  Confession,  in  the  judgment 
of  men  who  accept  it  and  of  others,  is  not  Calvinistic. 

(b.)  The  revision  by  the  U.  S.  A.  Presbyterian 
Church,  it  was  claimed,  did  not  impair  the  integrity 
of  their  system  of  doctrine ; 

(c.)  Yet,  that  church  and  the  Cumberland  con- 
curred in  a  declaration  that  between  the  two  churches 
such  agreement  now  exists  as  to  warrant  a  union. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  219 

(d.)  When  the  union  had  been  effected  the  Assem- 
bly declared  that  it  involved  no  change  of  belief  on 
the  part  of  Cumberland  Presbyterian  ministers,  elders, 
and  deacons,  and  this  implies,  of  course,  the  liberty  to 
teach  and  preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Confession,  as  heretofore. 

We  are  now  confronted  by  this  condition :  A  great 
number  of  ministers  and  churches  have  been  sud- 
denly transformed  from  Cumberland  Presbyterians  to 
U.  S.  A.  Presbyterians ;  adopting  the  Westminster 
Confession,  but  at  liberty  to  hold  and  disseminate  the 
teachings  of  the  Confession  to  which  they  had  form- 
erly subscribed. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  or  desire  to  criticize  unkindly 
the  action  of  the  U.  S.  A.  Presbyterian  Church  in  re- 
ceiving those  other  brethren  into  their  fold  on  the 
basis  on  which  the  union  was  effected,  or  to  discuss 
the  concessions  they  found  themselves  willing  to  make. 
They  had  a  right  to  judge  of  the  propriety  of  the  course 
they  thought  it  best  to  pursue,  and  to  put  their  esti- 
mate on  the  Cumberland  Standards  and  to  judge  of 
their  conformity  to  their  own. 

Yet  I  feel  warranted  in  saying  that  in  my  humble 
judgment,  in  this  recent  transaction  with  the  accom- 
panying deliverances,  there  is  one  of  the  most  serious 
and  far-reaching  modifications  of  the  Calvinistic  system 
of  doctrine  of  which  history  takes  account. 

For  the  people,  and  the  ministry,  and  the  splendid 
work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  we  of  the 
Southern  Church  have  no  feeling  other  than  fraternal 
and  cordial  esteem.  It  is  a  great  body  of  Presbyte- 
rians, the  largest  in  the  world.  Among  its  trusted 
leaders  there  are  many  men  whom  we  delight  to  honor. 


220  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Dr.  Patton  and  Dr.  Warfield  are  great  defenders  of 
the  faith,  and  we  count  their  names  worthy  to  be 
"writ  large"  in  the  same  column  with  those  of  our  own 
illustrious  Thornwell  and  our  colossal  Dabney.  On 
this  occasion  another  of  their  distinguished  men,  Dr. 
H.  C.  Minton,  has  been  one  of  our  guests  of  honor, 
and  he  has  favored  us  with  an  address  which  in  its 
grasp  of  a  great  theme,  displayed  the  hand  of  a  mas- 
ter; in  language  and  style  it  was  as  elegant  as 
Macaulay's,  and  in  delivery  superbly  eloquent.  It  is 
worthy  of  an  honored  place  among  the  classic  gems 
of  Calvinistic  literature. 

In  speaking  of  the  course  pursued  by  the  great 
Church  in  which  these  honored  brethren  are  standard 
bearers,  if  I  have  "nothing  extenuated"  in  the  recital 
of  historic  facts,  I  am  unconscious  of  having  "set  down 
aught  in  malice." 

And  now,  Moderator,  and  brethren,  I  thank  you 
for  the  patient  attention  you  have  given  to  this  long 
address.  I  can  only  plead  in  apology  for  its  length 
that  the  subject  assigned  me  was  exceeding  large.  It 
is  no  light  requirement  to  trace  the  course  of  theologi- 
cal thought  through  a  period  of  four  hundred  years. 
At  last,  my  task,  however  inperfectly,  is  done. 

This  Assembly,  notable  by  reason  of  the  Calvin 
celebration,  is  nearing  its  closing  session.  I  trust 
that  we  may  go  hence  with  hearts  inspired  by  a  larger 
reverence  for  the  great  man  whose  character  and  work 
have  been  kept  before  us  during  these  busy  sessions, 
and  that  we  will  hold  with  a  grip  that  knows  no 
weakening,  the  System  of  doctrine  contained  in  that 
old  Confession  which,  in  these  days  of  change,  our 
Church  retains  without  a  revision  of  its  statements  or 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  221 

modification  of  its  articles  of  faith.  In  no  spirit  of 
vain-glory  we  may  assert  the  claim  that  this  Confes- 
sional System  of  doctrine  best  agrees  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture,  the  dictates  of  reason,  the  testimony 
of  consciousness,  and  the  facts  of  history.  It  solves 
more  questions,  it  involves  fewer  difficulties  it  gives 
more  solid  ground  for  faith  and  hope,  and  it  more 
exalts  and  glorifies  God,  than  any  doctrine  which 
contradicts  it.  It  is  the  doctrine  emblazoned  on  the 
banner  that  has  been  borne  in  the  forefront  of  God's 
Sacramental  host  in  the  days  of  the  Church's  most 
glorious  history ;  it  has  ever  strengthened  the  mission- 
ary and  sustained  the  martyr ;  it  has  made  strong  the 
hands  of  God's  battling  heroes  and  inspired  with  hope  the 
hearts  of  His  suffering  saints. 

This  doctrinal  banner  will  be  the  rallying  center 
for  an  ever-increasing  number  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
cross,  and  the  song  of  which  it  has  been  the  sentiment, 
will  be  sung,  although  mid  toils  and  tears,  until  the  song 
and  the  singers  become  a  part  of  the  worship  and  the 
worshippers  when  the  host  of  the  redeemed  shall, 
with  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  and  as  the  voice 
of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of  mighty  thunder - 
ings,  sing: 

Alleluia :  for  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth ! 


V 


Rev.  BENJA..MIN  B.  Wakfield,  D.  D., 
Princeton,  N,  J. 


PRESENT  DAY  ATTITUDE  TO 
CALVINISM. 


Rev.  Benj.  B.  Warfied,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

The  subject  upon  which  I  am  to  address  you  in- 
volves the  determination  of  a  matter  of  fact,  about 
which  it  is  not  easy  to  feel  fully  assured.  What  is  the 
present-day  attitude  towards  Calvinism?  The  answer 
to  this  question  is  apt  to  vary  with  the  point  of  sight 
of  the  observer,  or  rather  with  the  horizon  which  his 
eye  surveys. 

Our  learning-  to-day  is  "made  in  Germany,"  our 
culture  comes  to  us  largely  from  England.  And  the 
German  learning  of  the  day  has  a  sadly  rationalistic 
tendency  ;  which  is  superposed,  moreover,  on  a 
Lutheran  foundation  that  has  an  odd  way  of  cropping 
up  and  protruding  itself  in  unexpected  places.  Simi- 
larly, English  culture  is  not  merely  shot  through,  but 
stained  through  and  through,  with  an  Anglican  color- 
ing. Lutheranism  was  ever  intolerant  of  Calvinism. 
Anglicanism  was  certainly  never  patient  of  it.  Natur- 
alism is  its  precise  contradictory.  He  who  breathes 
the  atmosphere  of  books,  therefore, — whether  books 
of  erudition,  or  .books  of  pure  literature — is  apt  to 
find  it  stifling  to  his  Calvinism. 

There  is,  of  course,  another  side  of  the  matter. 
There  are  very  likely  more  Calvinists  in  the  world  to- 
day than  ever  before.     Even  relatively,  the  professedly 


224  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Calvinistic  churches  are,  no  doubt,  holding  their  own. 
There  are  important  tendencies  of  modern  thought 
which  play  into  the  hands  of  this  or  that  Calvinistic 
conception.  Above  all,  there  are  to  be  found  every- 
where humble  souls,  who,  in  the  quiet  of  retired  lives, 
have  caught  a  vision  of  God  in  his  glory,  and  are  cher- 
ishing in  their  hearts  that  vital  flame  of  complete 
dependence  on  him  which  is  the  very  essence  of 
Calvinism. 

On  the  whole,  however,  I  think  we  must  allow, 
especially  when  we  are  contemplating  the  trend  oi 
current  thought,  that  the  fortvuies  of  Calvinism  are 
not  at  their  flood.  Those  w^hose  heritage  it  was,  have 
in  large  numbers  drifted  away  from  it.  Those  who 
still  formerly  profess  it,  do  not  always  illustrate  it  in 
life  or  proclaim  it  in  word.  Are  there  any  "Calvinists 
without  reserve"  left  among  the  acknowledged  leaders, 
at  least,  of  French-speaking  Christendom,  blood  of 
whose  blood  and  bone  of  whose  bone  Calvin  himself 
was?  Outside  of  the  little  band  of  the  followers  of 
H.  M.  Kohlbriigge,  are  there  any  left  throughout  the 
broad  stretches  of  those  German  lands  in  which  Cal- 
vinism was  once  able  to  give  so  good  an  account  of 
itself?  Even  in  Scotland,  we  have  been  told  by  Dr. 
Hastie  that,  so  far  as  the  greater  churches  are  con- 
cerned, the  race  of  Calvinists,  of  strict  construction  at 
least,  practically  died  out  with  William  Cunningham 
and  Thomas  J.  Crawford.  Happily  in  sturdy  little 
Holland,  amid  wide-spread  blight,  there  is  still  a  fruit- 
ful stock,  and  the  Free  Churches  of  the  Netherlands 
especially  show  yet  a  vigorous  Calvinistic  life:  they 
possess  to-day,  in  fact,  in  Abraham  Kuyper  and  Her- 
man Bavinck,  a  theologian  of  genius  and  a  theologian 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  225 

of  erudition  worthy  of  the  best  traditions  of  Holland's 
great  past.  Here  in  America,  the  impulse  received 
from  the  great  teachers  who  illuminated  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century — Charles  Hodge,  Robert  J. 
Breckinridge,  James  H,  Thornwell,  Henry  Boynton 
Smith,  William  G.  T.  Shedd,  Robert  L.  Dabney,  Archi- 
bald Alexander  Hodge — I  enumerate  them  in  chrono- 
logical order — we  are  thankful  to  say  is  not  yet  ex- 
hausted. There  remains,  then,  undoubtedly  a  rem- 
nant according  to  the  election  of  grace.  But  the  condi- 
tion of  a  remnant,  while  it  may  well  be  a  healthful  one — 
bearing  in  it,  as  a  fruitful  seed,  the  promise  and  po- 
tency of  future  expansion — is  little  likely  'to  be  a 
happy  one.  Unfriendly  faces  meet  it  on  every  side ; 
if  doubt  and  hesitation  are  not  engendered,  at  least 
an  apologetical  attitude  is  fostered ;  and  an  apologetical 
attitude  is  not  becoming  in  Calvinists,  whose  trust  is 
in  the  Lord  God  Almighty.  In  such  a  situation  Cal- 
vinism seems  shorn  of  its  strength,  and  is  tempted  to 
stand  fearful  and  half  ashamed  in  the  marts  of  men. 
I  have  no  wish  to  paint  the  situation  in  too  dark 
colors.  I  fully  believe  that  Calvinism,  as  it  has  sup- 
plied the  sinews  of  evangelical  Christianity  in  the 
past,  so  is  its  strength  in  the  present,  and  is  its  hope 
for  the  future.  Meanwhile,  does  it  not  seem,  in  large 
circles  at  all  events,  to  be  thrown  very  much  on  the 
defensive?  In  the  measure  in  which  you  feel  this  to 
be  the  case,  in  that  measure  you  will  be  prepared  to 
ask  with  me  for  the  causes  and  significance  of  this 
state  of  things. 

We  should  begin,  I  think,  by  recalling  precisely 
what  Calvinism  is.  It  may  be  fairly  summed  up,  I 
suppose,    in   these   three   propositions :     Calvinism    is 


226  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

theism  come  to  its  rights.  Calvinism  is  religion  at 
the  height  of  its  conception.  Calvinism  is  evangeli- 
calism in  its  purest  and  most  stable  expression. 

Calvinism,  I  say,  is  theism  come  to  its  rights.  For 
in  what  does  theism  come  to  its  rights  but  in  teleo- 
logical  view  of  the  universe?  For,  though  there  be 
that  are  called  gods,  whether  in  heaven  or  on  earth, — 
as  there  are  gods  many  and  lords  many  conceived  of 
men — yet  to  the  theist,  there  can  be  but  one  God,  of 
whom  are  all  things  and  unto  whom  are  all  things. 
You  see,  we  have  already  slipped  into  the  Calvinistic 
formula :  The  will  of  God  is  the  cause  of  things.  I 
do  not  say,  you  will  observe,  that  theism  and  Calvinism 
have  points  of  affinity,  lie  close  to  one  another:  Tsay 
they  are  identical.  I  say  that  the  theism  which  is 
truly  theism,  consistently  theism,  all  that  theism  to 
be  really  theism  must  be,  is  already  in  principle  Cal- 
vinism ;  that  Calvinism  in  its  cosmological  aspect  is 
nothing  more  than  theism  in  its  purity.  To  fall  away 
from  Calvinism,  is  to-  fall  away  by  just  so  much  from 
a  truly  theistic  conception  of  the  uiliverse.  Of  course, 
then,  to  fall  away  in  any  degree  from  a  pure  theism  in 
our  conception  of  things  is  just  by  that  much  to  fall 
away  from  Calvinism.  Wherever,  then,  in  our  view 
of  the  world  an  imperfect  theism  has  crept  in,  there 
Calvinism  has  become  impossible. 

Calvinism,  I  have  said,  again,  is  religion  at  the 
height  of  its  conception.  For  whatever  else  may  enter 
the  conscious  religious  relation, — a  vague  feeling  of 
mystery,  a  struggling  reaching  out  towards  the  infinite, 
a  deep  sentiment  of  reverence  and  awe,  a  keen  recogni- 
tion or  dull  apprehension  of  responsibility, — certainly 
its   substance  lies   in   a  sense  of  absolute  dependence 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  227 

upon  a  supreme  being.  I  do  not  say,  you  will  observe, 
an  absolute  feeling  of  dependence,  which  in  the 
Schleiermacheran  meaning-,  at  least,  of  a  feeling  with- 
out intellectual  content,  were  an  absurdity.  What  i 
say  is,  that  religion  in  its  substance  is  a  sense  of  abso- 
lute dependence  on  God,  and  reaches  the  height  of  its 
conception  only  when  this  sense  of  absolute  depend- 
ence is  complete  and  all  pervasive,  in  the  thought  and 
feeling  and  life.  But,  when  this  stage  is  reached,  we 
have  just  Calvinism.  For  what  is  Calvinism  but  the 
thetical  expression  of  religion,  conceived  as  absolute 
dependence  on  God?  Wherever  we  find  religion  in 
its  purity,  therefore,  there  Calvinism  is  implicit.  I  do 
not  say,  observe  again,  that  an  approach  to  Calvinism 
is  traceable  there,  in  less  or  greater  measure.  I  say, 
there  Calvinism  is,  — implicitly  indeed,  but  really — 
present.  Religion  in  its  purity  is  Calvinism  in  life ; 
and  you  can  fall  away  from  Calvinism  only  by  just  in 
that  measure  falling  away  from  religion,  and  you  do 
fall  away  from  Calvinism  just  in  proportion  as  you 
fall  away  from  religion  in  its  purity. 

It  is,  however,  dreadfully  easy  to  fall  away  from 
religion  at  the  height  of  its  conception.  We  may  as- 
sume the  truly  religious  attitude  of  heart  and  mind 
for  a  moment ;  it  is  hard  tO'  maintain  it  and  give  it 
unbroken  dominance  in  our  thought,  feeling  and  ac- 
tion. Our  soul's  attitude  in  prayer, — that  is  the  reli- 
gious attitude  at  its  height.  But  do  we  preserve  the 
attitude  we  assume  towards  God  in  prayer  when  we 
rise  from  our  knees?  Or  does  our  "amen"  cut  it  oflE 
at  once,  and  we  go  on  about  our  affairs  in  an  entirely 
different  mood?  Now,  Calvinism  means  just  the  pre- 
servation in  all  our  thinking  and  feeling  and  action  of 


228  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

that  attitude  of  utter  dependence  on  God  which  we  as- 
sume in  prayer.  It  is  the  mood  of  religion  made  deter- 
minative of  all  our  thinking  and  feeling  and  willing. 
It  is  accordingly  conterminous  with  religion  in  the  height 
of  its  conception.  Wherever,  therefore,  religion  in  any 
measure  loses  hold  of  the  reins  of  life  and  our  im- 
manent thought  has  slipped  away  from  its  control, — 
there  Calvinism  has  become  impossible. 

I  have  said  again,  Calvinism  is  evangelicalism  in 
its  pure  and  only  stable  expression.  When  we  say 
evangelicalism,  we  say  sin  and  salvation.  Evangeli- 
calism is  a  soteriological  conception :  it  implies  sin 
and  salvation  from  sin.  There  may  be  religion  without 
evangelicalism.  We  may  go  further:  religion  might 
conceivably  exist  at  the  height  of  its  conception,  and 
evangelicalism  be  lacking.  But  not  in  sinners.  Evan- 
gelicalism is  religion  at  the  height  of  its  conception  as 
it  forms  itself  in  the  hearts  of  sinners.  It  means  utter 
dependence  on  God  for  salvation ;  it  implies,  therefore, 
need  of  salvation,  and  a  profound  sense  of  this  need, 
along  with  an  equally  profound  sense  of  helplessness 
in  the  presence  of  this  need,  and  utter  dependence  on 
God  for  its  satisfaction.  Its  type  is  found  in  the  pub- 
lican, who  smote  his  breast  and  cried,  "God  be  merci- 
ful to  me  a  sinner !"  No  question  there  of  saving  him- 
self, of  helping  God  to  save  him,  or  of  opening  the 
way  to  God  to  save  him ;  no  question  of  anything,  but, 
I  am  a  sinner,  and  all  my  hope  is  in  God  my  Saviour! 
Now  this  is  Calvinism ;  not,  note  once  more,  some- 
thing like  Calvinism  or  an  approach  to  Calvinism,  but 
just  Calvinism  in  its  vital  manifestation.  Wherever 
this  attitude  of  heart  is  found  and  is  given  expression 
in  direct  and  unambiguous  terms,  there  is  Calvinism. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  229 

Wherever  this  attitude  of  mind  and  heart  is  fallen  away 
from  in  however  small  a  measure,  there  Calvinism  has 
become  impossible. 

For  Calvinism,  in  this  soteriological  aspect  of  it,  is 
just  the  perception  and  the  thetical  expression  and  de- 
fense of  the  utter  dependence  of  the  soul  on  the  free 
g^race  of  God  for  salvation.  All  its  so-called  hard  fea- 
tures— its  doctrine  of  original  sin ;  yes,  speak  it  right 
out,  its  doctrine  of  total  depravity  and  the  entire  in- 
ability of  the  sinful  will  to  good ;  its  doctrine  of  elec- 
tion ;  or,  put  it  in  the  words  everywhere  spoken  against, 
its  doctrine  of  predestination  and  preterition,  or  repro- 
bation itself — mean  just  this  and  nothing  more.  Cal- 
vinism will  not  play  fast  and  loose  with  the  free  grace 
of  God ;  it  is  set  upon  giving  to  God  and  to  God  alone, 
the  glory  and  all  the  glory  of  salvation.  There  are 
others  than  Calvinists,  no  doubt,  who  would  fain  make 
the  same  great  confession.  But  they  make  it  with  re- 
serves; or  they  painfully  justify  the  making  of  it  by 
some  tenuous  theory  which  confuses  nature  and  grace. 
They  leave  logical  pitfalls  on  this  side  or  that ;  and 
the  difference  between  logical  pitfalls  and  other  pit- 
falls is  that  the  wayfarer  may  fall  into  the  others,  but 
the  plain  man,  just  because  his  is  a  simple  mind,  must 
fall  into  these.  Calvinism  will  leave  no  logical  pitfalls; 
and  will  make  no  reserves ;  and  will  have  nothing  to 
do  with  theories  whose  function  it  is  to  explain  away 
facts.  It  confesses  with  a  heart  full  of  adoring  grati- 
tude that  to  God  and  to  God  alone  belongs  salvation 
and  the  whole  of  salvation ;  that  he  it  is  and  he  alone 
who  works  salvation  in  its  whole  reach.  Any  falling 
away  in  the  slightest  measure  from  this  great  con- 
fession   is    to    fall    away    from    Calvinism.      Any    in- 


230  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

trusion  of  any  human  merit,  or  act,  or  disposition,  or 
power,  as  ground  or  cause  or  occasion,  into  the  process 
of  divine  salvation, — whether  in  the  way  of  capacity  to 
resist  or  abihty  to  improve  grace — of  the  opening  of 
the  way  to  the  reception  of  grace,  or  of  the  employ- 
ment of  grace  already  received — is  a  breach  with  Cal- 
vinism. Calvinism  is  the  casting  of  the  soul  wholly 
on  the  free  grace  of  God  alone,  to  whom  alone  belongs 
salvation. 

Such  is  the  nature  of  Calvinism.  And  such  being 
the  nature  of  Calvinism  it  seems  scarcely  necessary 
to  inquire  why  its  fortunes  appear  from  time  to  time, 
and  now  again  in  our  time,  to  suffer  some  depression. 
It  can  no  more  perish  out  of  the  earth  than  the  sense 
of  sin  can  pass  out  of  the  heart  of  sinful  humanity;  than 
the  perception  of  God  can  fade  out  of  the  minds  of 
dependent  creatures ;  than  God  himself  can  perish  out 
of  the  heavens.  Its  fortunes  are  bound  up  with  the 
fortunes  of  theism,  religion,  evangelicalism;  for  it  is  just 
theism,  religion,  evangelicalism  in  the  purity  of  their 
conception  and  manifestation.  In  the  purity  of  their 
conception  and  manifestation !  There  is  the  seat  of 
the  difficulty.  It  is  proverbially  hard  to  retain,  much 
more  to  maintain,  perfection.  And  how  can  precisely 
these  things  be  maintained  at  their  height?  Consider 
the  currents  of  thought  flowing  up  and  down  in  the 
world,  tending — I  do  not  now  say  to  obliterate  the 
perception  of  the  God  of  all:  atheistic  naturalism,  ma- 
terialistic or  pantheistic  evolutionism — but  to  blunt  or 
obscure  our  perception  of  the  divine  hand  in  the  se- 
quence of  events  and  the  issues  of  things.  Consider 
the  pride  of  man,  his  assertion  of  freedom,  his  boast 
of  power,  his  refusal  to  acknowledge  the  sway  of  an- 


Calvin  Memori7\l  Addresses  231 

other's  will.  Consider  the  ingrained  confidence  of  the 
sinner  in  his  own  fundamentally  good  nature  and  his 
fidl  ability  to  perform  all  that  can  be  justly  demanded 
of  him.  Is  it  strange  that  in  this  world — in  this  par- 
ticular age  of  this  world — it  should  prove  difficult  to 
preserve  not  only  active,  but  vivid  and  dominant,  the 
perception  of  the  everywhere  determining  hand  of  God, 
the  sense  of  absolute  dependence  on  him,  the  convic- 
tion of  utter  inability  to  do  even  the  least  thing  to 
rescue  ourselves  from  sin — at  the  height  of  their  con- 
ception? Is  it  not  enough  to  account  for  whatever 
depression  Calvinism  may  be  suffering  in  the  world 
to-day,  to  point  to  the  natural  difficulty  in  this  mate- 
rialistic age, — conscious  of  its  newly  realized  powers 
over  against  the  forces  of  nature  and  filled  with  the 
pride  of  achievement  and  of  material  well-being, — of 
guarding  our  perception  of  the  governing  hand  of  God 
in  all  things  in  its  perfection,  maintaining  our  sense 
of  dependence  on  a  higher  power  in  full  force,  and 
preserving  our  feeling  of  sin,  unworthiness  and  help- 
lessness in  its  profundity?  Is  not  the  significance  of 
the  depression  of  Calvinism,  so  far  as  it  is  real,  then, 
merely  that  to  our  age  the  vision  of  God  has  become 
somewhat  obscured  in  the  midst  of  abounding  material 
triumphs,  the  religious  emotion  has  in  some  measure 
ceased  to  be  the  determining  force  in  life,  and  the  evan- 
gelical attitude  of  complete  dependence  on  God  for 
salvation  does  not  readily  commend  itself  to  men  who 
are  accustomed  to  lay  forceful  hands  on  everything 
else  they  wish  and  do  not  quite  see  why  they  may 
not  take  heaven  also  by  storm  ? 

Such  suggestions  may  seem  to  you  rather  general, 
perhaps  even  somewhat  indefinite.    They  appear  to  me 


232  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

nevertheless  to  embody  the  true,  and  the  whole,  ac- 
count of  v^^hatever  depression  of  fortunes  Calvinism 
may  be  suffering  to-day.  In  our  current  philosophies, 
whether  monistic  evolutionism  or  pluralistic  pragma- 
tism, theism  is  far  from  coming  to  its  rights.  In  the 
strenuous  activities  of  our  materialized  life,  religion 
has  little  opportunity  to  assert  itself  in  its  purity.  In 
our  restless  assertion  of  our  personal  power  and  worth 
evangelicalism  easily  falls  into  the  background.  In 
an  atmosphere  created  by  such  a  state  of  things,  how 
could  Calvinism  thrive?  We  may,  of  course,  press  on 
to  a  more  specific  account  of  its  depressed  fortunes. 
But  in  attempting  to  be  more  specific,  what  can  we  do 
but  single  out  particular  aspects  of  the  general  situa- 
tion for  special  remark?  It  is  possible,  indeed,  that 
the  singling  out  of  one  of  these  aspects  may  give  clear- 
ness and  point  to  the  general  fact.  It  may  be  worth 
while,  therefore,  to  attend  to  one  of  these  special 
aspects  for  a  moment. 

Let  us  observe  this,  then — that  Calvinism  is  only 
another  name  for  consistent  supernaturalism  in  reli- 
gion. The  central  fact  of  Calvinism  is  the  vision  of 
God.  Its  determining  principle  is  zeal  for  the  divine 
honor.  What  it  sets  itself  to  do  is  to  render  to  God 
his  rights  in  every  sphere  of  life-activity.  In  this  it 
begins  and  centers  and  ends.  It  is  this  that  is  said 
when  it  is  said  that  it  is  theism  come  to  its  rights,  since 
then  everything  that  comes  to  pass  is  viewed  as  the 
direct  outworking  of  the  divine  purpose ;  that  it  is  re- 
ligion at  the  height  of  its  conception,  since  then  God 
is  consciously  felt  as  him  in  whom  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being;  that  it  is  evangelicalism  in  its 
purity,  since  then  we  cast  ourselves  as  sinners,  without 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  233 

reserve,  wholly  on  the  mercy  of  the  divine  grace.  It 
is  this  sense  of  God,  of  God's  presence,  of  God's  power, 
of  God's  all-pervading  activity — most  of  all  in  the 
process  of  salvation — which  constitutes  Calvinism. 
When  the  Calvinist  gazes  into  the  mirror  of  the  world, 
whether  the  world  of  nature  or  the  world  of  events, 
his  attention  is  held  not  by  the  mirror  itself  (with 
the  cunning  construction  of  which  scientific  investiga- 
tors may  no  doubt  very  properly  busy  themselves)  but 
by  the  Face  of  God  which  he  sees  reflected  therein. 
When  the  Calvinist  contemplates  the  religious  life,  he 
is  less  concerned  with  the  psychological  nature  and 
relations  of  the  emotions  which  surge  through  the 
soul  (with  which  the  votaries  of  the  new  science  of 
the  psychology  of  religion  are  perhaps  not  wholly  un- 
fruitfully  engaging  themselves)  than  with  the  divine 
source  from  which  they  spring,  the  divine  object  of 
which  they  take  hold.  When  the  Calvinist  considers 
the  state  of  his  soul  and  the  possibility  of  its  rescue 
from  death  and  sin,  he  may  not  indeed  be  blind  to 
the  responses  which  it  may  by  the  grace  of  God  be 
enabled  to  make  to  the  divine  grace,  but  he  absorbs 
himself  not  in  them  but  in  it,  and  sees  in  every  step 
of  his  recovery  to  good  and  to  God  the  almighty  work- 
ing of  God's  grace.  The  Calvinist  in  a  word  is  the 
man  who  sees  God :  he  has  caught  sight  of  the  in- 
effable Vision,  and  he  will  not  let  it  fade  a  moment 
from  his  eyes.  God  in  nature,  God  in  history,  God  in 
grace ;  everywhere  he  sees  God  in  his  mighty  step- 
ping, everywhere  he  feels  the  working  of  his  mighty 
arm,  the  throbbing  of  his  mighty  heart.  The  Calvinist 
is,  therefore,  by  way  of  eminence  the  supernaturalist 
in  the  world  of  thought.     The  world  itself  is  to  him 


234  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

a  supernatural  product ;  not  merely  in  the  sense  that 
somewhere,  away  back  before  all  time,  God  made  it ; 
but  that  God  is  making  it  now  and  in  every  event  that 
falls  out,  in  every  modification  of  what  is  that  takes 
place,  his  hand  is  visible,  as  through  all  occurrences 
his  one  increasing  purpose  runs.  Man  himself  is  his, 
created  for  his  glory,  and  having  as  the  one  supreme 
end  of  his  existence  to  glorify  his  Maker,  and  haply 
also  to  enjoy  him  forever.  And  salvation  in  every  step 
and  stage  of  it  is  of  God.  Conceived  in  God's  love, 
wrought  out  by  God's  own  Son,  in  a  supernatural 
life  and  death  in  this  world  of  sin,  and  applied  by 
God's  Spirit  in  a  series  of  acts  as  supernatural  as  the 
virgin-birth  and  the  resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God 
themselves,  it  is  a  supernatural  work  through  and 
through.  To  the  Calvinist  thus  the  church  of  God 
is  as  direct  a  creation  of  God  as  the  first  creation  itself. 
In  this  supernaturalism,  the  whole  thought  and  feeling 
and  life  of  the  Calvinist  is  steeped.  Without  it  there 
can  be  nO'  Calvinism:  for  it  is  just  this  that  is 
Calvinism. 

Now  the  age  in  which  we  live  is  anything  but  super- 
naturalistic.  It  is  distinctly  hostile  to  supernaturalism. 
Its  most  striking  characteristic  is  precisely  its  deeply 
rooted  and  wide-reaching  naturalism  of  thought  and 
sentiment.  We  know  the  origin  of  this  modern  natur- 
alism ;  we  can  trace  its  history.  What  it  is  of  more 
importance  to  observe,  however,  is  that  we  cannot 
escape  its  influence.  On  its  rise  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  a  new  era  began,  an  era  in 
which  men  have  had  little  thought  for  the  rights  of 
God  in  their  absorption  in  the  rights  of  man.  English 
deism,    French    encyclopedism,    German    illuminism — 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  235 

these  are  some  of  the  fruits  it  has  borne  in  the  progress 
of  its  development ;  and  now  it  has  at  length  run  to 
seed  in  our  own  day  in  what  arrogates  to  itself  the 
name  of  the  New  Protestantism — that  New  Protestant- 
ism which  repudiates  Luther  and  all  his  fervid  ways 
and  turns  rather  for  its  spiritual  parentage  to  the  reli- 
gious indifferentism  of  Erasmus.  It  has  invaded  with 
its  solvent  every  form  of  thought  and  every  activity 
of  life.  It  has  given  us  a  naturalistic  philosophy  (in 
which  all  being  is  evaporated  into  becoming),  a  natu- 
ralistic science  (the  single-minded  zeal  of  which  is  to 
eliminate  design  from  the  universe),  a  naturalistic  poli- 
tics (the  first  fruits  of  which  was  the  French  Revolution, 
and  its  last  may  well  be  an  atheistic  socialism),  a  natural- 
istic history  (which  can  scarcely  find  place  for  even  hu- 
man personality  among  the  causes  of  events),  and  a  natu- 
ralistic religion  which  says  "Hands  off!"  to  God,  if 
indeed  it  troubles  itself  to  consider  whether  there  be 
a  God,  or  if  there  be  a  God  whether  he  be  a  person, 
or  if  he  be  a  person,  whether  he  can  or  will  concern 
himself  with  men. 

You,  as  ministers  of  the  gospel,  have  been  greatly 
clogged  in  the  prosecution  of  your  calling  by  this  na- 
turalism of  current  thought.  How  many  of  those  to 
whom  you  would  carry  the  message  of  grace,  do  you 
find  preoccupied  with  a  naturalistic  prejudice !  Who 
of  your  acquaintance  really  posits  God  as  a  factor  in 
the  development  of  the  world?  How  often  have  you 
been  exhorted  to  seek  a  "natural"  progress  for  the 
course  of  events  in  history?  Yes,  even  for  the  history 
of  redemption.  So,  even  in  the  region  of  your  own 
theological  science,  a  new  Bible  has  been  given  to  you ; 
not  offered  to  you  merely,  but  violently  thrust  upon  you 


236  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

as  the  only  Bible  a  rational  man  can  receive, — a  new 
Bible  reconstructed  on  the  principle  of  natural 
development,  torn  to  pieces  and  rearranged  under 
the  overmastering  impulse  to  find  a  "natural"  order 
of  sequence  for  its  books,  and  a  "natural" 
course  of  development  for  the  religion  whose 
records  it  preserves.  But  why  stop  with  the  Bible? 
Your  divine  Redeemer  himself  has  been  reconstructed 
on  the  same  naturalistic  lines.  For  a  century  and  a 
half  now, — from  Reimarus  to  Wrede — all  the  resources 
of  an  age  pre-eminent  for  scholarship  have  been  bent 
to  the  task  of  giving  you  a  "natural"  Jesus.  Why  talk 
here  of  the  miracles  of  the  Old  Testament  or  of  the 
New?  It  is  the  Miracle  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New  which  is  really  brought  into  question.  Why  dis- 
pute as  to  the  virgin-birth  and  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus?  It  is  to  the  elimination  of  Jesus  himself,  as 
aught  but  a  simple  man  of  his  day,  in  nothing,  except 
perhaps  an  unusually  vivid  religious  experience,  dif- 
ferentiated from  other  Galilaean  peasants  of  his  time, 
that  the  naturalistic  frenzy  of  our  age  is  set  upon. 
And  so  furiously  has  the  task  been  driven  on  that 
the  choice  that  is  set  before  us  at  the  end  of  the  day  is 
practically  between  no  Jesus  at  all,  or  a  fanatic,  not 
to  say  a  paranoiac,  Jesus.  In  this  anti-supernatural- 
istic  atmosphere,  is  it  strange  that  men  find  the  pure 
supernaturalism  of  the  Calvinistic  confession  difificult, 
— that  they  waver  in  their  firm  confidence  that  it  is 
God  who  reigns  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  that  in  him  we 
all  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  that  it  is  he 
and  not  ourselves  who  creates  in  us  every  impulse  to 
good,  and  that  it  is  his  almighty  arm  alone  that  can 
rescue  us  from   sin  and  bring  to  our  helpless  souls 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  237 

salvation?  Is  it  strange  that  here  too  men  travel  the 
broad  road  beaten  smooth  by  many  feet,  and  the  Calvinis- 
tic  gate  seems  so  narrow  that  few  there  be  that  find  it, 
and  the  Calvinistic  way  so  straitened  that  few  there 
be  who  go  in  thereat? 

But  let  us  make  no  mistake  here.  For  here  too 
Calvinism  is  just  Christianity.  The  supernaturalism 
for  which  Calvinism  stands  is  the  very  breath  of  the 
nostrils  of  Christianity:  without  it  Christianity  can- 
not exist.  And  let  us  not  imagine  that  we  can  pick 
and  choose  with  respect  to  the  aspects  of  this  super- 
naturalism  which  we  acknowledge.  That  we  may,  for 
example,  retain  supernaturalism,  in  the  origination  of 
Christianity,  and  forego  the  supernaturalism  with  which 
Calvinism  is  more  immediately  concerned, — the  superna- 
turalism of  the  application  of  Christianity.  Men  will  not 
believe  that  a  religion  the  actual  working  of  which  in 
the  w^orld  is  natural,  can  have  required  to  be  ushered 
into  the  world  with  supernatural  pomp  and  display. 
These  supernaturals  stand  or  fall  together.  A  super- 
natural Redeemer  is  not  needed  for  a  natural  salva- 
tion :  if  we  can  and  do  save  ourselves,  it  were  grossly 
incongruous  that  God  should  come  down  from  heaven 
to  save  us,  trailing  clouds  of  glory  with  him  as  he 
came.  The  logic  of  the  Socinian  system  gave  us  at 
once  a  human  Christ  and  an  autosoteric  religion.  The 
same  logic  will  work  to-day,  and  every  day  till  the 
end  of  time.  It  is  only  for  a  truly  supernatural  salva- 
tion that  a  truly  supernatural  redemption,  or  a  truly 
supernatural  Redeemer  is  demanded — or  can  be  be- 
lieved in. 

And  this  reveals  to  us  the  real  place  which  Cal- 
vinism    holds  in  the  controversies  of  to-day,  and  the 


238  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

service  it  is  to  render  in  the  preservation  of  Chris- 
tianity for  the  future.  Only  the  Calvinist  is  the  con- 
sistent supernaturalist :  and  only  consistent  superna- 
turalism  can  save  supernatural  religion  for  the  world. 
The  supernatural  fact,  which  is  God ;  the  supernatural 
act,  which  is  miracle;  the  supernatural  book,  which  is 
the  revealed  will  of  God;  the  supernatural  redemption, 
which  is  the  divine  deed  of  the  divine  Christ;  the  su- 
pernatural salvation,  which  is  the  divine  work  of  the 
divine  Spirit, — these  things  form  a  system,  and  you 
cannot  draw  one  item  out  without  shaking  the  whole. 
What  Calvinism  particularly  asserts  is  the  superna- 
turalism  of  salvation,  as  the  immediate  work  of  God 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul,  by  virtue  of  which  we 
are  made  new  creatures  in  Christ  our  Redeemer  and 
framed  into  the  sons  of  God  the  Father.  And  it  is 
only  he  that  heartily  believes  in  this  supernaturalism 
of  salvation  who  is  not  fatally  handicapped  in  meeting 
the  assaults  of  that  anti-supernaturalistic  world-view 
which  flaunts  itself  so  triumphantly  about  us.  Conceal 
it  from  ourselves  as  we  may,  defeat  here  lies  athwart 
the  path  of  all  half-hearted  scemes  and  compromising 
constructions.  This  is  what  was  meant  by  the  late 
Dr.  Henry  Boynton  Smith,  when  he  declared  roundly: 
"One  thing  is  certain, — that  infidel  science  will  rout 
everything  excepting  thoroughgoing  Christian  ortho- 
doxy. The  fight  will  be  between  a  stiff  tUoroughgoing 
orthodoxy  and  a  stiff  thoroughgoing  infidelity.  It 
will  be,  for  example,  Augustine  or  Comte,'  Athanasius 
or  Hegel,  Luther  or  Schopenhauer,  J.  S.  Mill  or  John 
Calvin." 

This  witness  is  true.    We  cannot  be  supernaturalis- 
tic  in  patches  of  our  thinking,  and  naturalistic  in  its 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  239 

substance.  We  cannot  be  supernaturalistic  with  re- 
gard to  the  remote  facts  of  history  and  naturalistic 
with  regard  to  the  intimate  events  of  experience.  We 
cannot  be  supernaturahstic  with  regard  to  what  oc- 
curred two  thousand  years  ago  in  Palestine,  and  simply 
naturalistic  with  regard  to  what  occurs  to-day  in  our 
hearts.  No  form  of  Christian  supernaturalism  can  be 
ultimately  maintained,  in  any  department  of  life  or 
thought,  except  it  carry  with  it  the  supernaturalism  of 
salvation,  and  a  consistent  supernaturalism  of  salva- 
tion is  only  another  name  for  Calvinism.  Calvinism 
thus  emerges  to  our  sight  as  nothing  more  or  less  than 
the  hope  of  the  world. 


Rev.  a.  M.  Frasek,  D.  D. 
Staunton,  Va. 


HOW  MAY  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF 

CALVINISM    BE    RENDERED 

MOST  EFFECTIVE  UNDER 

MODERN  CONDITIONS? 


By  A.  M.  Eraser, 
Staunton,  Virginia. 


The  task  assigned  to  me  is  constructive  and  practical. 
It  is  not  explanatory,  nor  historical,  nor  apologetic.  I 
am  not  asked  to  tell  what  Calvinism  is,  nor  to  relate  what 
it  has  done,  nor  to  prove  that  it  is  true.  While  I  may 
refer  to  these  themes  in  the  course  of  my  remarks,  my 
main  purpose  is  different.  Accepting  Calvinism  as  we  find 
it,  assuming  that  it  is  true,  noting  what  is  peculiar  and 
dominant  in  modern  conditions,  forecasting  the  future  as 
best  we  may,  I  am  asked  to  suggest  a  way  by  which  that 
system  of  truth  which  has  wrought  mightily  in  the  past 
may  so  adjust  itself  to  these  modern  conditions  as  to 
yield  the  best  results. 

My  diffidence  in  this  undertaking  is  increased  by  the 
thought  that  in  this  question  the  entire  Calvin  celebration 
culminates.  A  mere  sentimental  celebration  of  the  past 
is  alien  to  the  spirit  of  Calvinism,  which  seeks  only  to 
glorify  God  and  serve  humanity.  If,  therefore,  our  re- 
view of  the  past  does  not  yield  a  substantial  contribution 
to  the  present,  the  celebration  will  so  far  have  failed  of 
its  object. 

It  will  aid  our  efforts  to  solve  this  difficult  problem 
if  we  can  get  a  fuller  interpretation  of  the  question  pro- 


242  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

posed,  "How  May  the  Principles  of  Calvinism  be  Ren- 
dered Most  Effective  Under  Modern  Conditions?"  What 
are  the  "Modern  Conditions"  referred  to?  What  is 
meant  by  "the  Principles  of  Calvinism"?  What  is  in- 
tended by  making  them  "effective" ;  or,  in  other  words, 
what  is  the  "effect"  which  it  is  desired  that  Calvinism 
shall  produce?  Let  us  then,  as  a  preparation  for  the 
main  question,  first  consider  these  three  preliminary  ones. 

I.  What  are  the  "Modern  Conditions"  referred  to? 
What  is  there  in  the  present  attitude  of  thought  and  life 
that  distinguishes  this  age  from  other  ages  in  which  Cal- 
vinism has  won  its  victories  and  done  its  work? 

I.  The  first  of  these  I  would  mention  is  the  materialis- 
tic tendency  of  Natural  Science.  Natural  Science  pro- 
ceeds upon  the  correct  principle  that  it  must  concern  it- 
self only  with  observed  and  recorded  facts  and  with  those 
theories  which  may  reasonably  be  deduced  from  such 
facts,  and  that  moreover  it  must  confine  itself  to  those 
facts  which  are  perceived  through  the  senses.  But  the 
phenomena  of  spirit  not  being  cognizable  by  the  senses, 
those  phenomena  are  not  properly  within  the  purview  of 
Natural  Science.  Just  here  two  dangers  emerge.  The 
exclusive  absorption  of  the  attention  with  material  facts 
leads  to  the  ignoring  of  those  other  spiritual  facts  which 
are  the  proper  subjects  of  another  science,  and  so  there 
results  a  one-sided  development  of  thought.  Or  else, 
departing  from  its  own  guiding  principle  to  confine  itself 
to  its  own  established  facts.  Natural  Science  draws  in- 
ferences and  makes  confident  assertions  concerning 
spiritual  phenomena,  which  confessedly  it  does  not  and 
cannot  observe.  Consequently  it  neglects  God  and  Spirit 
or  denies  the  existence  of  either. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  243 

This  science,  not  always  equally  materialistic,  but 
always  with  a  powerful  tendency  in  that  direction,  holds 
a  commanding  and  ascending  position  in  the  schools. 
It  is  fascinating  to  the  young,  it  colors  literature,  it 
controls  the  practical  arts,  and  in  a  circle  far  wider  than 
that  in  which  its  facts  are  known,  it  causes  a  feeling  of 
uneasiness  lest  the  foundations  of  the  faith  have  been 
shaken. 

2.  Another  factor  of  the  modern  situation  is  the  de- 
structive criticism  of  the  Bible.  The  postulate  of  a 
divinely  inspired,  infallible,  sufficient  revelation  from 
God  is  essential  to  Christianity.  The  Bible  is  valuable 
not  merely  because  it  contains  a  revelation  of  God,  for 
in  a  measure  natural  theology  might  take  the  place  of 
that.  Nor  is  it  valuable  merely  because  it  contains  the 
purest  and  most  correct  system  of  ethics,  for  in  a  measure 
moral  philosophy  might  supply  the  deficiency  there.  The 
Bible  is  distinguished  in  that  it  offers  a  scheme  for 
the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  in  that  it  tells  how  good  morals 
may  be  achieved  and  spiritual  life  acquired.  In  this,  it  is 
not  to  be  classed  with  other  religious  books  and  flattered 
as  the  best  of  books.  Its  position  is  unique  and  tran- 
scendant.    It  is  "the  Book." 

Modern  criticism  begins  by  denying  or  discrediting 
the  possibility  of  a  supernatural  origin  for  the  Bible. 
Proceeding  with  a  learning  that  is  not  always  the  pledge 
of  wisdom,  with  an  ingenuity  that  is  too  often  divorced 
from  discretion,  and  with  an  industry  which  "the  children 
of  light"  would  do  well  to  emulate,  it  subjects  every 
word  of  the  sacred  volume  to  a  merciless  manipulation 
and  it  ransacks  the  archives  of  all  the  ages  and  the  places 
mentioned  in  the  Bible  in  the  eflfort  to  prove  a  purely 
natural  and  human  origin  for  it.     Not  abashed  by  its 


244  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

experience  in  the  past,  in  which  similar  results,  reached 
by  similar  methods,  have  been  ignominiously  overthrown 
by  fuller  knowledge,  and  in  favor  of  historic  Chris- 
tianity, it  continues  to  proclaim  its  conclusions  with  a 
confidence  that  intimidates  all  those  who  have  not  equal 
learning  and  better  judgment,  or  who  have  not  the  inward 
and  incontestable  witness  of  the  Spirit. 

3.  Another  obtrusive  fact  in  the  confusion  of  modern 
conditions  is  the  prevalence  and  growth  of  Socialism, 
whether  as  an  economic,  ethical,  or  religious  theory.  The 
goal  of  Socialism  is  a  state  of  society  in  which  there 
shall  be  sometlting  approaching  an  equal  distribution 
among  men  of  the  enjoyment  of  the  world's  wealth. 
Sometimes  this  is  advocated  as  a  policy  of  statesmanship, 
and  so  it  is  economic  in  its  character.  Sometimes  it 
is  urged  as  the  dictate  of  justice,  and  so  is  ethical.  Some- 
times it  is  claimed  to  be  an  inference  from  the  universal 
brotherhood  of  man  as  taught  in  the  Bible,  and  so  it 
becomes  religious.  Socialism  is  fostered,  on  the  one 
hand,  by  some  of  the  most  generous  impulses  of  the 
human  heart,  drawn  out  into  active  expression  by  beau- 
tiful visions  of  self  sacrifice  and  of  a  universal  better- 
ment of  humanity.  It  is  fostered,  on  the  other  hand. 
by  some  of  the  most  powerful  and  dangerous  forces  of 
human  nature,  the  hunger,  the  nakedness,  the  suffering, 
the  sense  of  wrong  of  an  oppressed  and  intelligent 
poverty,  provoked  and  aggravated  by  the  surfeiting 
and  waste,  the  pride  and  tyranny,  the  vulgar  display  and 
even  the  religious  professions  of  wealth.  There  may 
have  been  as  much  poverty  in  the  world  before  as  there 
is  to-day,  and  as  much  dense  crowding  and  unhappiness 
of  the  poor.  There  may  have  been  as  much  arrogance 
and  coldness  and  cruelty  of  wealth.     But  never  before 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  245 

have  these  conditions  been  accompanied  by  such  intel- 
hgence  of  the  poor,  caused  by  free  education,  free  speech, 
and  marvellously  cheapened  literature.  One  result  of  all 
this  is  a  startling  attitude  towards  religion — an  admira- 
tion, amounting  almost  to  reverence,  for  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, but  an  envenomed  hostility  to  the  church. 

4.  Another  modern  movement  with  which  Calvinism 
must  reckon  is  a  nascent  civilization  in  the  Far  East. 
In  China  and  Japan  and  Korea  there  arc  kindred  races 
comprising  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  human  family. 
They  occupy  lands  opulent  in  those  natural  resources  by 
which  great  nations  may  be  sustained.  They  are  charac- 
terized by  a  virile  personality  and  an  intelligence  of  the 
highest  order  that  has  lain  fallow  and  has  gathered  sub- 
stance through  many  ages.  At  a  single  vault  they  leap 
into  the  arena  of  the  great  nations  of  the  world.  At 
once  they  master  all  the  domain  of  knowledge  which 
the  West  had  laboriously  acquired  through  centuries.  In 
fifty  years,  "a  cycle  of  Europe"  is  acquired  by  Cathay. 
They  awake  to  the  consciousness  of  undeveloped  power. 
They  not  only  challenge  the  prestige  of  western  powers, 
but,  breaking  with  their  own  paganism,  are  ready  to  em- 
brace Christianity  or  "modernism,"  whichever  shall  first 
arrest  their  attention  and  win  their  allegiance.  If  Chris- 
tianity is  embraced,  millenial  conditions  are  accelerated, 
but  if  they  choose  modernism,  the  redemption  of  the 
world  is  indefinitely  postponed. 

5.  Another  feature  of  the  modern  world  which  de- 
mands the  attention  of  the  church,  though  it  is  excep- 
tional in  this  age  only  in  the  degree  and  manner  of  its 
self  assertion,  is  sensuality.  When  we  consider  the 
brazen  immoralities  of  that  which  calls  itself  "high  so- 


246  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

ciety,"  and  its  impudent  defiance  of  most  sacred  insti- 
tutions and  conventionalities ;  when  we  think  of  the  grow- 
ing pruriency  of  fiction  and  of  the  stage,  and  the  prosti- 
tution of  marriage  to  the  ends  of  convenience  and  of 
lust;  when  we  see  how  the  same  spirit  has  invaded  the 
very  chair  of  ethics  in  some  of  the  strongest  institutions 
of  learning  in  the  land,  and  those  set  to  teach  morality 
express  doubt  as  to  the  reality  of  virtue;  and  when  we 
witness  the  inroads  upon  the  church  of  those  forms  of 
worldliness  whose  perils  lie  in  the  same  direction,  we 
see  abundant  cause  for  apprehension  lest  sensuality  may 
have  a  powerful  hold  on  modern  life. 

6.  Still  another  condition  is  the  decline  of  family  re- 
ligion and  of  the  religious  instruction  of  the  young  in 
the  home.  The  excellent  sermon  on  this  subject  preached 
by  the  Moderator  at  the  opening  of  this  Assembly  leaves 
nothing  more  to  be  said  about  that  at  this  time. 

7.  This  sketch  is  not  complete  but  only  suggestive, 
yet  it  should  not  be  concluded  without  a  glance  at  the 
bright  side.  There  is  more  consecration  of  wealth  and 
more  evangelistic  and  missionary  activity  in  the  church 
to-day  than  there  has  ever  been  since  the  days  of  the 
early  church.  There  is  more  systematic  study  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  problems  of  church  work  than  there 
has  ever  been.  There  are  as  fine  examples  of  Christian 
conscience  in  public  life  as  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
There  is  the  strongest  sense  of  the  spiritual  unity  of 
Christendom. 

II.  What  is  meant  by  "the  Principles  of  Calvinism"? 
The  principles  of  Calvinism  are  its  essential  parts  as 
opposed  to  its  accidental  parts.  They  are  that  without 
which  Calvinism  would  cease  to  be  Calvinism.   They  are 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  247 

the  germinal  and  regulative  principles  out  of  which  it 
springs  and  by  which  it  is  moulded.  We  must  dis- 
tinguish between  the  principles  of  Calvinism  and  that 
complete  system  of  belief  which  Calvin  himself  held. 
We  must  distinguish  between  the  principles  of  Calvinism 
and  any  creed  held  by  any  Christian  organization  calling 
itself  Calvinistic,  just  as  we  distinguish  between  the 
principles  of  Republican  government  and  any  one  form  of 
Republican  Government.  The  government  may  be  Re- 
publican in  its  general  plan  and  yet  may  embody  mon- 
archical or  other  features  inconsistent  with  its  central 
principle.  And  so  Calvinism,  powerful,  acute,  accurate 
logician  as  he  was,  was  nevertheless  finite  and  fallible. 
In  the  carrying  out  of  his  principles  he  may  have  been 
unconsciously  influenced  to  some  extent  by  education 
and  by  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  and  so  he  may 
have  held  some  views  that  could  not  be  reconciled  vv^ith 
his  other  opinions.  For  a  stronger  reason  we  conclude 
that  Calvinistic  denominations,  in  the  elaboration  of  their 
doctrinal  formulas,  may  have  produced  creeds  that  were 
not  logically  consistent  throughout.  There  may  even 
be  some  denominations  which  hold  to  the  radical  prin- 
ciples of  Calvinism  and  yet  so  far  fail  in  the  application 
of  those  principles  in  constructing  their  creeds  as  to 
deny  some  tenets  which  are  characteristic  of  Calvinism 
and  themselves   repudiate  the  name. 

With  these  general  comments,  and  without  pausing 
to  defend  my  statement,  I  submit  for  your  approval  an 
outline  sketch  of  the  principles  of  Calvinism.  It  in- 
cludes a  belief : 

I.  In  an  objective  personal  God,  who  is  infinitely  in- 
terested in  each  individual  of  his  creation,  and  is  im- 
mediately accessible  to  each,  and  to  whom  each  is  im- 
mediately responsible. 


248  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

2.  The  utter  wreck  of  man's  spiritual  nature  by  sin, 
totally  disabling  him  for  holiness  and  alienating  him 
from  God. 

3.  The  absolute  dependence  of  ruined  man  upon  the 
mercy  of  God  for  devising,  executing,  revealing  and  per- 
sonally applying  whatever  scheme  of  restoration  may  be 
possible  for  man. 

4.  The  granting  to  the  believer  of  a  restoration 
through  the  atonement  of  Christ,  so  complete  that  the 
image  of  God  is  regained  and  every  trace  of  sin  is  lost, 
and  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  forever  indestructible, 

5.  The  establishment  of  a  fellowship  between  God 
and  the  individual  redeemed,  so  free,  so  unrestrained, 
that  the  whole  life  is  fertilized  by  divine  impulses,  and 
all  the  resources  of  life  are  brought  under  spontaneous 
contribution  to  the  glory  of  God. 

How  deeply  do  the  "five  points  of  Calvinism"  enter 
into  this  scheme!  It  enables  us  to  understand  what 
Guizot  said  of  Calvin,  that  his  mind  moved  in  the  circle 
of  three  chapters  of  his  Institutes.  The  subjects  of 
those  chapters  are : 

1.  Man's  need  of  the  Bible  in  order  to  obtain  peace 
with  God. 

2.  Reason  can  satisfactorily  prove  that  the  Scriptures 
are  a  revelation  from  God. 

3.  Man's  absolute  dependence  upon  the  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  order  to  understand  aright  and  to 
appropriate  what  the  Bible  contains. 

The  outline  I  have  drawn  perhaps  also  gives  us  Dr. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  249 

Kuyper's  point  of  view  when  he  says  in  one  place  that 
the  distinctive  tenet  of  Calvinism  is  "The  exalted  thought 
that  although  standhig  in  high  majesty  above  the  crea- 
ture, God  enters  into  immediate  fellowship  with  the 
creature" ;  and  when  he  says  again,  "The  persuasion  that 
the  whole  of  a  man's  life  is  to  be  lived  as  in  the  divine 
presence  has  become  the  fundamental  thought  of  Cal- 
vinism"; and  again  when  he  says,  "The  assurance  of 
eternal  Salvation"  was  the  inspiration  of  the  fortitude  and 
the  courage  of  those  who  suffered  martyrdom  for  the 
faith  and  who  achieved  the  victories  of  Calvinism. 

The  principles  of  Calvinism  I  have  given  are  those 
which  pertain  to  the  doctrines  of  grace,  to  which  I  must 
be  confined  this  morning.  But  it  should  be  noted  in 
passing  that  out  of  these  principles  of  grace  there  grow 
principles  of  church  government  sufficient  for  discipline, 
and  principles  of  worship,  simple,  whole-hearted  and  ma- 
jestic, and  other  principles  which  regulate  one's  moral 
and  intellectual  life,  and  his  domestic,  social,  industrial 
and  civil  relations. 

III.  What  is  meant  by  rendering  these  principles 
"effective"?  What  is  the  effect  we  should  wish  Calvin- 
ism to  produce? 

I  submit  that  the  effect  we  should  desire  is  not  to 
make  the  gospel  popular.  Christ  did  not  do  that.  It 
is  not  to  adorn  religion  with  artificial  attractions,  to 
appeal  to  the  taste  or  imagination  or  even  the  intellect, 
and  so  to  make  it  pleasing  to  the  natural  heart,  for  "then 
is  the  offense  of  the  Cross  ceased."  It  is  not  to  multiply 
adherents,  admirers,  professors  and  financial  supporters. 
Of  what  advantage  is  it  that  we  have  plethoric  church 
rolls  and  houses  of  worship  crowded  with  enthusiastic 
listeners  if  men  do  not  forsake  sin  and  selfishness  for 


250  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

God  and  service,  and  if  there  be  in  men  no  power  to 
transform  the  Hfe  and  no  foretokens  of  the  perfect  Hfe 
of  heaven?  The  effect  we  should  desire  is  the  creation 
of  spiritual  life  in  man.  It  is  the  bringing  of  men  by 
regeneration  into  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God,  and  it  is 
the  developing  in  them  by  santification  of  a  character 
consonant  with  the  nature  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  and 
an  anticipation  of  the  heavenly  and  eternal  state. 
Through  individuals  so  affected  we  should  seek  to  mold 
communities  and  through  communities  to  impress  the 
nation.  And  thus  in  ever  widening  circles  we  should 
send  out  saving  influences  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth. 

IV.  And  now  we  reach  the  main  question.  "How 
May  the  Principles  of  Calvinism  be  Rendered  Most 
Effective  Under  Modern  Conditions?" 

In  this  discussion  we  must  assume  that  the  principles 
of  Calvinism  are  correct.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  do 
absolutely  believe  they  are  correct.  We  are  Calvinists  not 
from  heredity,  nor  from  education,  nor  from  environ- 
ment, but  from  individual  conviction  of  the  truth  of  Cal- 
vinism. What  have  we  then?  Here  is  a  positive,  well 
definied,  divine  arrangement  for  the  redemption  of  man 
and  for  restoring  him  to  the  image,  the  fellowship,  and 
the  service  of  God.  All  this  is  contained  in  the  Bible.  We 
believe  it  is  correctly  reproduced  in  the  Calvinistic  state- 
ment. While  then  there  is  no  rescinding  of  this  ar- 
rangement by  divine  warrant  and  no  modification  of  it, 
while  there  is  no  change  in  the  nature  of  God  and  no 
change  in  the  nature  of  man,  we  are  compelled  to  act 
upon  the  assumption  that  it  is  a  permanent  arrangement 
adapted  to  all  conditions  of  humanity  in  all  ages.  In- 
spired revelation  is  not  progressive  but  fixed.     Our  un- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  251 

derstanding  of  it  may  increase  and  become  better  clarified-, 
but  here  we  have  no  question  as  to  the  substantial  correct- 
ness of  our  interpretation.  Thus  Calvinism  contains  an 
economy  ordained  in  the  wisdom  of  the  Most  High  for 
meeting  and  controlling  all  possible  developments  of  hu- 
man life  and  thought. 

It  may  be  interesting  and  useful  to  us  to  examine  the 
changing  phases  of  human  society  and  ascertain  what 
in  them  is  most  congenial  with  Calvinism,  and  what 
Calvinism  may  use.  For  instance,  the  radical  principle  of 
Socialism  is  but  the  perversion  of  a  principle  for  which 
the  world  is  indebted  through  Calvinism  to  the  Bible. 
Calvinism  teaches  us  that  God  is  equally  accessible  to 
all  men  and  that  all  men  are  equally  responsible  to  God. 
There  is  then  a  sort  of  equality  among  men  which  they 
must  recognize.  But  Socialism  goes  to  the  impossible 
extreme  of  making  that  equality  absolute,  and  so  ob- 
literates distinctions  which  the  Creator  Himself  es- 
tablished. Take  another  illustration.  There  are  more 
than  two  hundred  million  Moslems  in  the  world  who 
believe  in  fatalism,  and  there  are  more  than  four  hun- 
dred million  Chinese  who  believe  in  some  form  of  pre- 
destination. These  together  comprise  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  human  family  and  more  than  a  half  of  the 
unevangelized  races,  and  all  this  large  proportion  of  the 
population  of  the  world  holds  to  a  more  or  less  perverted 
form  of  a  doctrine  which  is  distinctive  of  Calvinism, 
the  sovereignty  of  God.  Or  take  another  illustration. 
Calvinism,  with  a  better  grace  than  any  other  religion, 
can  say  to  Natural  Science,  You  have  shown  the 
world  more  than  it  has  ever  known  before  of  the  splen- 
dor and  beauty  of  creation.  You  have  taught  the  world 
more   clearlv   than   it   has   ever  known   before  how   the 


252  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

beautiful  order  of  the  universe  has  been  wrought  out 
by  a  plan.  Is  it  not  more  reasonable  to  believe  that  the 
explanation  of  this  world  is  the  presence  of  a  master 
intelligence  rather  than  the  operation  of  an  unconscious 
force  ?" 

But  after  all  we  must  at  last  confront  the  fact 
that  we  may  not  depend  and  need  not  depend  on  any 
natural  easy  process.  Calvinism  if  it  be  God's  truth 
has  in  it  a  divine  energy  intended  to  overcome  and  fitted 
to  overcome  every  kind  and  degree  of  opposition.  The 
opposition  of  to-day  may  differ  in  form  but  does  not  dif- 
fer in  substance  from  that  of  other  days.  That  opposi- 
tion arises  from  vicious  reasoning  and  a  depraved  heart. 
It  was  a  false  philosophy  and  a  corrupt  society  which 
Calvin  confronted  and  overcame.  Guizot  says,  "The 
principal  and  most  formidable  characteristics  of  the  six- 
teenth century  were  its  political  disturbances,  its  public 
immorality  and  its  ardent  intellectual  outburst,  and  Cal- 
vin was  simultaneously  resisting  all  of  them."  That  was 
a  greater  task  than  we  have  to-day,  because  the  political 
disturbances,  at  least,  are  no  longer  a  feature  of  the 
conflict.  The  proclamation  of  the  truth  accompanied  by 
the  gracious  working  of  God  was  ever  the  means  by 
which  the  opposition  was  subdued.  Christ  said,  "Preach 
the  Gospel,  and  lo,  I  am  with  you."  On  Pentecost  Peter 
narrated  the  story  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  fell  on  the  multitude  and  thousands  were  converted. 
At  Antioch,  they  preached  "the  Word"  and  they 
preached  "the  Lord  Jesus,"  and  "the  hand  of  the  Lord 
was  upon  them,"  and  "a  great  number  believed  and 
turned  unto  the  Lord." 

A  small  group  of  propagandists,  with  the  world  against 
them,  with  the  prestige  of  heathenism  and  Judaism  in  op- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  253 

position,  with  the  most  powerful  mihtary  government  of 
history  actively  hostile,  clogged  by  subtle  and  false  phil- 
osophies within,  nevertheless  transfused  the  Roman  em- 
pire with  Christianity.  The  teachings  of  Christ,  the  ser- 
mons recorded  in  the  Acts,  the  Epistles,  which  did  this 
work,  contain  those  doctrines  which  have  been  formulated 
in  Calvinism.  If  such  is  the  force  of  this  truth  when  it  is 
preached  "in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power," 
what  may  it  not  accomplish? 

When  the  Reformation  came  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, both  false  doctrine  and  corruption  of  character 
were  entrenched  in  the  citadel  of  the  church  itself.  The 
revolt  was  not  only  against  corruption.  It  went  deeper 
and  challenged  the  doctrinal  errors  which  made  that 
corruption  possible.  The  doctrine  of  th^.  Reformation 
did  not  crystallize  in  Luther.  Under  God,  all  honor  to 
Luther  for  his  initiative,  his  lion-hearted  courage,  his 
indefatigable  labors,  his  strongly  loving  and  strongly  hat- 
ing nature  and  for  his  sublime  leadership.  But  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Reformation  did  not  come  to  its  crystalline 
form  in  Luther,  but  in  Calvin.  The  believers  in  Cal- 
vinism, strong  in  their  knowledge  of  the  truth,  in  the 
presence  of  God's  Spirit,  and  in  their  assurance  of  eternal 
life,  whether  they  were  found  in  Germany,  in  the  Nether- 
lands, in  Switzerland,  in  France,  in  Spain,  or  in  Great 
Britain,  blanched  not  before  church  or  state  or  any  hu- 
man tribunal.  They  faltered  not  for  fire  or  sword,  or 
axe,  or  rope,  or  rack  or  any  instrument  of  torture  that 
man  or  devil  could  devise,  they  feared  not  to  assail  sin 
or  error,  and  again  the  victory  was  won  against  fallacious 
reasoning  and  immoral  conduct. 

Calvinism  is  the  most  powerful  evangelistic  agency 
ever  employed.     In  the  seventeenth,  eighteenth  and  nine- 


254  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

teenth  centuries,  revivals  of  religion,  notable  for  the  in- 
tensity of  feeling  stirred,  the  number  of  people  affected 
and  the  nature  and  permanency  of  the  results  that  fol- 
lowed, swept  over  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 
The  stock  of  the  preaching  was  Calvinistic. 

In  local  communities,  a  character  for  piety,  for  in- 
dustry, for  integrity,  for  heroism,  for  altruism,  for  in- 
itiative has  been  imparted  and  transmitted  for  many 
generations.  Every  type  of  moral  character  has  been 
reached  and  regenerated  by  it.  The  dissolute,  the  drunk- 
ard, the  burglar,  the  liar,  the  indifferent,  the  violently 
hostile,  the  ignorant,  the  highly  educated,  the  moral,  the 
phlegmatic,  the  emotional,  the  supercilious,  all  alike 
come  under  conviction  of  sin  and  helplessness  and  cry, 
"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved"  ?  And  all  alike  being  con- 
verted cry  with  Thomas,  "My  Lord  and  my  God,"  and 
with  Saul  of  Tarsus,  "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me 
to  do?" 

All  of  this  being  true  and  the  question  being,  "How 
may  the  principles  of  Calvinism  be  rendered  most  effec- 
tive under  modern  conditions?"  the  answer  is  two-fold: 
I.  Let  Calvinism  in  its  integrity  be  boldly  avowed 
and  aggressively  pressed.  It  is  not  a  time  for  cowardice, 
"Awake,  awake;  put  on  thy  strength,  O  Zion ;  put  on 
thy  beautiful  garments,  O  Jerusalem,  the  Holy  City." 
Let  not  the  church  be  afraid  of  it  nor  afraid  to  preach 
it.  As  some  one  has  said,  "The  truth  needs  no  care- 
takers, it  needs  only  witnesses."  Let  not  the  truth  be  sup- 
pressed or  concealed.  Let  it  not  be  compromised  nor 
amended  at  the  dictation  of  its  enemies.  Let  it  not  be 
glossed  to  please  an  unbelieving  world.  It  has  always 
done  its  work  in  the  open  field  and  not  in  hiding  and  not 
by  indirection.     It  has  done  its  work  as  a  whole  and 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  255 

not  as  a  mutilated  system.     Then  let  it  be  proclaimed 
with  confidence. 

To  say  that  men  will  no  longer  hear  doctrinal  preach- 
ing is  a  mistake.  Only  let  the  preacher  himself  find  a 
throbbing  life  in  the  theme,  and  let  the  truth  live 
in  his  own  being,  and  he  will  make  it  live  in 
the  lives  of  his  hearers.  The  street  preacher  is  not 
afraid  of  this  truth  and  he  has  his  reward.  Thousands 
turn  away  from  discussions  in  the  pvilpit  of  current  events 
and  social  topics,  and  political  issues,  and  merely  ethi- 
cal questions,  and  try  to  fill  themselves  with  the  husks  of 
occult  and  puerile  philosophies. 

Following  this  suggestion  we  shall  need  several  things : 

I.  A  ministry  thoroughly  and  boldly  in  sympathy 
with  Calvinism.  Let  the  emphasis  of  theological  instruc- 
tion continue  to  rest  upon  the  chair  of  systematic  theo- 
logy and  increase  the  emphasis.  Let  all  the  learning  of 
the  college,  the  university,  and  the  theological  Semi- 
nary be  focused  upon  a  doctrinal  education.  Let  the 
doctrine  be  supported  by  sound  exegesis  on  the  one  hand 
and  sound  philosophy  on  the  other.  Give  us  a  scholar- 
ship in  the  ministry,  capable  of  stating  the  truth,  thor- 
oughly informed  as  to  its  history  and  its  bearings  on 
other  knowledge  and  on  life,  and  able  to  defend  the  truth 
at  every  point  of  attack.  Why  should  we  not  have  a 
learning  in  the  pulpit  as  broad,  as  deep,  as  accurate,  as 
highly  tempered  as  any  to  be  found  in  professors  chairs, 
in  the  laboratories  of  science,  or  in  the  researches  of  the 
field  and  the  forest?  If  Buckle's  observation  be  correct 
that  the  tendency  of  Arminianism  is  to  produce  scholars, 
and  the  tendency  of  Calvinism  is  to  produce  thinkers, 
we  need  to  give  special  attention  to  this  suggestion. 


256  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

Yet,  far  be  it  from  us  to  disparage  personal  piety 
as  a  requisite  for  the  ministry.  As  between  the  minister 
whose  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  conviction  of  it  are 
only  intellectual,  and  the  man  whose  "life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God,"  evermore  give  us  the  man  who  has  ob- 
tained his  knowledge  at  first  hand,  from  communion 
with  God  and  from  the  Spirit's  illumination  of  the  word. 

But  not  only  should  the  minister  be  in  contact  with 
the  truth  and  with  God,  in  order  that  he  may  bring  the 
influence  of  both  to  bear  on  human  life  he  must  be  in 
sympathetic  contact  with  humanity.  The  Good  Shep- 
herd was  responsive  to  every  human  impulse  and  should 
not  the  under  shepherd  know  and  feel  all  that  is  in  man? 
More  than  in  any  previous  age  does  the  man  of  God 
need  to  be  a  man  among  men,  acquainted  with  their  con- 
ditions and  sharing  those  conditions,  loving  and  being 
loved,  ministering  a  Christ-like  sympathy  and  help  to 
every  kind  of  man. 

In  many  cases  these  three  phases  of  ministerial  edu- 
cation, the  scholastic,  the  spirtual  and  the  practical,  may 
be  united  in  the  same  person.  The  ministry  as  a  whole 
should  be  distinguished  by  all  of  them. 

Then,  with  the  best  and  most  practical  men  in  the 
pulpit,  let  the  voice  of  the  people  and  high  ideals  in 
Presbytery  make  it  not  only  possible  but  imperative  that 
preaching  shall  be  something  more  than  merely  emo- 
tional, or  evangelistic,  or  hortatory,  or  ethical  and  never 
dryly  dogmatic.  Let  it  be  all  the  counsel  of  God,  the 
word  of  God  "which  liveth  and  abideth  forever,"  the 
most  effective  implement  of  evangelism,  the  surest 
ethical   foundation. 

2.  Denominational  institutions  of  learning.  By  de- 
nominational institutions  is  meant  not  necessarily  those 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  257 

under  ecclesiastical  control.  A  school  may  be  under 
ecclesiastical  control  and  altogether  negative  in  religious 
character.  A  school  may  not  be  under  ecclesiastical  con- 
trol and  yet  saturated  to  the  core  with  the  denominational 
spirit.  A  school  is  denominational  only  when  the  in- 
fluence of  its  instruction  and  its  school  life  is  positively 
and  strongly  denominational.  Far  hence  with  the 
thought  that  a  man  cannot  be  an  instructor  of  the  highest 
order  because  he  has  decided  religious  beliefs.  Away 
with  the  suggestion  that  Calvinism  may  not  furnish 
teachers  who  are  the  equals  of  any  other  teachers.  And 
again  let  us  give  no  heed  to  the  claim  that  successful  in^ 
struction  is  hindered,  when  there  are  parallel  efforts  made 
for  the  spiritual  conversion  of  the  student  and  his  sound 
indoctrination.  Let  not  the  Syren  voice  of  money  allure 
us  to  destruction  upon  such  rocky  shores. 

Let  all  the  facts  of  science  be  fearlessly  told,  whether 
of  geology,  biolog}^,  sociology,  archaeology  or  compara- 
tive religion.  "The  truth  needs  no  caretakers."  But  back 
of  all  science  place  the  fact,  'In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  and  let  the  terminus 
of  all  science  be,  "For  Thy  glory  they  were  and  are 
created."  Let  Calvin  and  Calvinism  be  given  their  right- 
ful place  in  history.  Why  should  there  be  any  more  scut 
sitiveness  about  assigning  Calvinism  its  proper  place  in 
modern  history  than  there  is  in  discussing  the  Mecklen- 
burg Declaration  or  the  responsibility  for  the  loss  of 
Gettysburg?  Let  the  science  of  government  be  so  taught 
that  the  contribution  of  Calvinistic  principles  to  civil 
liberty  and  to  right  theories  of  government  may  be  clearly 
seen.  Let  ethics  and  political  economy  acknowledge 
their  indebtedness  to  it.  Let  the  Bible  be  taught  in  all 
its  bearings  upon  individual  life,  and  marriage,  and  the 


258  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

family  and  the  state.  And  let  not  a  pseudo-liberality 
lead  us  to  suppress  the  denominational  name  and  inten- 
tion of  our  schools.  The  eloquent  Dr.  Moses  D.  Hoge 
once  remarked,  "Presbyterians  are  the  only  people  who 
make  that  mistake." 

3.  A  revival  of  catechetical  instruction  in  the  family 
and  in  the  Sabbath  school,  and  a  rebuilding  of  the  family 
altar.  The  stream  is  not  apt  to  rise  higher  than  its 
source  nor  to  be  purer  than  its  fountain  head.  Not  only 
should  the  rythmical  clauses  of  the  catechism  be  given 
to  the  memory  as  the  molds  for  future  thought,  but  all 
explanations  of  Scripture,  all  moral  lessons,  all  parental 
counsel,  all  wooings  of  the  heart  for  Christ  should  be 
given  with  a  distinct  consciousness  of  the  Calvinistic 
point  of  view.  Then  continue  to  develop  the  Sunday 
school  along  the  lines  already  adopted,  until  it  shall  be- 
come as  effective  in  its  sphere  as  the  public  school  is 
in  its. 

4.  Once  more,  we  need  with  all  of  this,  not  less  but 
more  catholic  spirit,  a  sincere,  generous,  loving  appre- 
ciation of  our  fellow  Christians  of  whatever  denomina- 
tional name  and  of  whatever  creed,  because  of  their  ser- 
vice to  the  truth  and  because  of  the  souls  they  have 
brought  to  a  common  Master. 

II.  The  second  answer  to  the  principal  question  is 
that  we  should  seek,  and  not  cease  our  seeking  till  we 
obtain,  copious,  deep,  wide-spread  outpourings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  truth  alone  without  the  supernatural 
grace  of  God's  Spirit  has  no  saving  and  sanctifying 
efficacy,  whatever  natural  power  it  may  have.  In  all 
the  great  genuine  movements  of  the  church  the  presence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  has  overshadowed  all  other  circum- 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  259 

stances.  What  we  need  for  modern  conditions  is  the 
ahnighty  supernatural  working  of  God,  causing  the 
truth  to  dispel  the  darkness,  and  converting  hostility  into 
loving  submission  and  worship.  The  occasion  calls  for 
patience  and  prayer. 

For  any  distrust  of  the  truth,  for  any  compromise 
with  the  world,  for  any  recreancy  to  duty,  "let  the  min- 
isters of  the  Lord  weep  between  the  porch  and  the  altar, 
and  let  them  say.  Spare  thy  people,  O  Lord,  and  give 
not  thine  heritage  to  reproach."  "Then  will  the  Lord 
be  jealous^^d  pity  His  people.  Yea,  the  Lord  will  an- 
swer and  say^^nto  His  people,  Behold,  I  will  no  more 
make  you  a  reproach  among  the  heathen."  When  the 
divine  challenge  comes,  "Awake,  awake ;  put  on  thy 
strength,  O  Zion ;  put  on  thy  beautiful  garments,  O 
Jerusalem,  the  holy  city,"  let  the  church  say,  "Awake, 
awake,  put  on  strength,  O  arm  of  the  Lord;  awake,  as 
in  the  ancient  days,  in  the  generations  of  old." 

"Let  God  arise,  let  His  enemies  be  scattered." 

"Give  ear,  O  Shepherd  of  Israel,  Thou  that  leadest 
Joseph  like  a  flock ;  Thou  that  dwellest  between  the  Cher- 
ubims,  shine  forth. 

Before  Ephraim  and  Benjamin  and  Manasseh  stir  up 
thy  strength,  and  come  and  save  us." 

"Turn  us  again,  O  Lord  God  of  Hosts,  cause  Thy 
face  to  shine  and  we  shall  be  saved." 


Dr.   Charles  Merle  u'Aubicne, 
Paris  France. 


JOHN   CALVIN— THE  MAN  AND 
HIS  TIMES. 


By  Dr.  Chas  Merle  d'  Aubigne, 
NcuiUy-snr-Seine,  France. 

John  Calvin  was  born  on  the  loth  of  July,  1509,  in 
the  small  town  of  Noyon,  in  Picardy.  His  grandfather 
was  a  cooper,  and  owned  a  small  house  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  Oise.  His  father,  Gerard  Cauvin — the  name 
was  later  Latinized  into  Calvinus,  Calvin — attained  by 
his  perseverance  and  industry  to  an  honorable  situation. 
He  was  Secretary  to  the  Bishop  of  Noyon,  and  Notary 
to  the  Chapter  of  the  Cathedral.  His  mother,  Jeanne 
Lefranc,  was  noted  as  a  goodlooking  and  pious  woman. 
John  Calvin  had  four  brothers,  and  two  sisters.  Two  of 
them  followed  him  later  on  to  Geneva,  and  settled  down 
near  their  more  famous  kinsman. 

Young  Calvin  showed  from  his  boyhood  "a  strong 
mind,  a  quick  and  inventive  intelligence."  He  was  de- 
stined by  his  father,  whose  relations  with  the  clergy  were 
constant,  to  the  church,  and  received,  when  he  was  only 
tv/elve  years  of  age,  the  benefice  or  living  of  the  chapel 
Gesine  in  the  cathedral  of  Noyon.  Such  an  occurrence 
was  by  no  means  imcommon  at  a  time  when  John  of 
Lorraine  was  made  Bishop  at  the  age  of  four,  and  Odet 
de  Chatillon,  Coligny's  brother.  Cardinal  at  sixteen. 

In  1523,  when  he  was  fourteen,  young  John  was 
sent  to  Paris  as  a  companion  to  some  youths  of  the  noble 
family  of  Montmor.     He  and  his  friends  were  received 


262  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

into  the  college  of  La  Marche  and,  a  few  months  later, 
into  that  of  Montaigu,  whose  principal  was  the  celebrated 
Beda,  later  on  one  of  the  fiercest  opponents  of  the  dawn- 
ing Reformation. 

In  that  college  the  fare  was  meagre,  the  discipline 
severe  the  work  unremitting  and  the  dirt  indescribable. 
From  4  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  9  at  night,  lessons 
went  on  almost  uninterruptedly,  with  half  an  hour's 
break  twice  a  day,  to  partake  of  a  hasty  meal. 

But  the  scanty  diet  was  made  up  by  abundant  flogging. 
In  that  college  they  whipped  for  yes,  and  they  whipped 
for  no.  The  whip  was  the  great  means  of  education. 
"It  was  administered,"  says  Erasmus,  who  was  also  a 
pupil  of  the  school,  "with  all  the  ferocity  which  one 
can  expect  from  the  hand  of  the  executioner." 

As  to  cleanliness,  I  cannot  enter  into  details.  Let  me 
only  mention  the  fact  that  it  was  forbidden  in  Montaigu 
to  the  pupils  to  put  their  hands  to  their  heads  during 
meals — for  fear  of  what  might   fall  therefrom ! 

How  did  young  Calvin  fare  in  that  unpropitious 
school-house?  The  order  does  not  seem  to  have  dis- 
agreed with  his  temperament,  and  no  doubt  he  trained 
himself  there  to  the  austere  discipline,  and  ceaseless  work 
which  were  his  rule  all  through  life.  He  was  ardent 
in  his  studies,  marvellously  quick  to  learn,  unflinchingly 
severe  with  himself  and  others.  It  was  no  doubt  for 
that  reason  that  he  was  given  by  his  comrades  the  nick- 
name of  "Accusative." 

However,  Calvin's  student  years  in  Paris  would  have 
been  barren  indeed  had  it  not  been  for  his  meeting,  in 
the  College  of  La  Marche,  a  master  who  was  to  be  to 
him  more  than  a  teacher,  a  friend,  and  finally,  curious 
to  state,  a  disciple.     Mathurin  Cordier  was  not  only  one 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  263 

of  the  best  Latin  linguists  of  his  time,  the  reformer  of 
the  study  of  that  language,  but  a  pedagogue  of  keen  in- 
sight, and  what  is  better  still,  a  pious  heart  and  earnest 
Christian.  Speaking  of  the  continual  flogging,  which 
was  the  habit  of  his  time,  he  says :  "Why  do  you  con- 
strain, beat  and  torture.  If  you  want  to  instruct  easily? 
Begin  by  God  and  heavenly  things.  .  .  .The  name  of 
Jesus  Christ — pour  it  drop  by  drop  into  your  pupil's 
heart.  Inculcate  into  them  the  word  of  God,  that  they 
may  be  touched  by  some  spark  of  the  divine  love.  Re- 
move the  pack  of  rods,  and  approach  the  brand  and  little 
flames  of  piety." 

Such  was  the  teaching  which  Calvin  imbibed  in  the 
college  of  La  Marche  for  many  a  month.  We  cannot 
doubt  that  it  was  received  into  well  prepared  ground. 
The  reformer  never  forgot  what  he  owed  his  old  master. 
Years  later  he  dedicated  to  him  one  of  his  commentaries^ 
and  called  him  to  be  the  master  of  the  school  which  he 
had  founded  in  Geneva. 

In  1528,  he  was  then  nineteen,  Calvin  has  finished  his 
course  in  arts,  and,  instead  of  preparing  for  the  church, 
we  find  him  for  five  years  studying  laws,  and  then  litera- 
ture in  the  universities  of  Orleans,  Bourges  and  Paris. 

At  the  time  when  the  young  and  promising  student 
betook  himself  to  the  Aliua  Mater  on  the  banks  of  the 
Loire,  the  University  of  Orleans  was  in  the  full  bloom  of 
its  prosperity.  There  Erasmus  had  taught  Latin,  Alean- 
der  Greek,  and  the  German  Reuchlin  Hebrew.  There 
the  famous  lawyer,  Pierre  de  I'Etoile,  "The  Prince  of 
Laws,"  as  he  was  called,  lectured  to  the  crowd  of  stu- 
dents attracted  to  the  fair  city  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
It  was  a  motley  crowd,  composed  of  princes,  dukes,  and 
counts,  as  well  as  of  the  sons  of  the  rich  burghers  of  the 


264  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

city.  It  was  also  a  joyous  crowd.  The  students  went 
by  the  name  of  "The  Dancers  of  Orleans,"  and  "there 
were,"  says  a  chronicler,  "more  than  forty  games  of  ball 
where  the  Prince  of  Orleans,  later  King  Louis  XII., 
played  with  the  citizens,  the  Doctors  with  their  pupils." 
"And  as  to  breaking  their  heads  with  study,"  adds  the 
famous  Rabelais,  "they  did  not  do  much  of  that,  for  fear 
of  injuring  their  sight." 

It  needs  scarcely  be  said  that  young  Calvin  had  less 
consideration  for  his  eyes.  On  the  contrary,  he  appears 
to  us,  at  that  early  age,  that  tremendous  worker,  that 
indefatigable  student  he  remained  all  his  life.  "He  often 
worked  till  midnight,"  says  his  biographer,  Theodore 
Beza — and  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  time  for  rising 
then  was  four  or  five  in  the  morning.  He  ate  little  at 
supper  to  be  free  in  his  mind,  and  in  the  morning,  as 
soon  as  he  awoke,  he  was  used  to  sit  in  bed,  recalling  what 
he  had  studied  the  night  before."  "There  can  be  no 
doubt,"  Beza  adds,  "that  such  sleepless  nights  gravely  in- 
jured his  health,  and  occasioned  that  weakness  of  the 
bowels  which  after  causing  him  several  illnesses,  brought 
about  his  premature  death."  "He  possessed,"  says  the 
same  biographer,  "an  incredible  memory,  which  retained 
every  point,  and  forgot  nothing.  He  could  remember 
the  most  insignificant  details  of  what  had  taken  place 
years  before.  Later  on,  when  he  taught,  or  preached, 
he  never  had  before  him  the  slightest  manuscript,  and, 
when  interrupted  while  dictating  a  letter  or  a  commen- 
tary, he  could  begin  again  straight  way,  without  being 
told  where  he  had  left  off." 

With  such  readiness  and  such  toil,  Calvin  progressed 
rapidly.  "Under  Pierre  de  I'Etoile,"  says  Beza  again, 
"Calvin  profited  so  well  and  in  such  a  short  time,  that 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  265 

they  did  not  hold  him  a  scholar,  but  one  of  the  ordinary 
doctors,  and  in  fact,  he  was  more  often  a  teacher  than  a 
listener." 

Three  years  later,  in  1531,  when  Calvin  was  twenty- 
two,  these  laborious  studies  culminated  in  a  work  which 
placed  him,  at  the  very  outset  of  his  career,  in  the  front 
ranks  of  the  humanists  of  his  time.  It  was  a  commen- 
tary on  the  "De  dementia"  of  Seneca.  Whether  there 
was  in  the  choice  of  such  a  subject,  a  sort  of  protest 
against  the  persecution  which  was  then  raging,  and  a  dis- 
guised appeal  to  the  magninimity  of  the  King,  is  uncer- 
tain. Calvin  shows  himself  in  the  book,  a  perfect  master 
of  the  Latin  language,  a  singularly  elegant,  mature  and 
searching  writer,  and  a  scholar  of  almost  incredible  eru- 
dition. He  quotes  no  less  than  fifty-five  Latin  authors, 
and  some  of  them  almost  unknown. 

Such  constant  study  would  not  seem  to  have  left  Cal- 
vin, during  his  student  days,  much  time  for  relaxation 
and  social  intercourse.  He  was,  so  he  says  himself,  "of 
a  shy  and  retiring  disposition,"  but  it  would  be  a  great 
mistake — a  mistake  that  has  been  often  made — to  see 
in  him  a  sombre  and  lonesome  hermit,  a  hater  of  his 
fellowmen,  and  of  their  society.  On  the  contrary,  we 
find  him  in  Orleans,  in  Bourges  and  in  Paris,  the  center 
of  most  interesting  groups  of  young  men.  He  enter- 
tained with  them  the  closest  relations,  and  with  some 
the  friendship  continued  intimate  and  warm  to  the  end 
of  his  life. 


But  already,  Calvin  was  something  more  than  a  hard 
working  student,  than  an  elegant  and  learned  humanist. 
If  you  go  to  the  quaint  old  town  of  Bourges,  they  will 


266  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

show  you,  almost  under  the  shade  of  the  old  Cathedral — 
one  of  the  marvels  of  architecture — on  a  little  square, 
"la  Pierre  de  Calvin"  Calvin's  stone.  From  there,  the 
future  reformer  is  supposed  to  have  preached  to  the 
people  assembled  in  the  market  place.  A  little  further, 
you  will  see  a  sort  of  bow-window  jutting  out  from  the 
wall  of  an  old  convent,  that  is  "la  Chaire  de  Calvin," 
Calvin's  pulpit.  And  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
the  town,  a  rickety  old  stone  bridge  over  a  small  stream 
retains  to  this  day  the  name  of  Calvin's  bridge,  "le  Pont 
de  Calvin." 

Now  I  will  not  vouch  for  the  perfect  trustworthiness 
of  every  one  of  these  local  traditions — yet  it  seems  ab- 
solutely certain  that  Calvin  did  preach  the  gospel  at 
Bourges,  even  in  his  student  days,  and  probably  near  that 
very  bridge,  to  the  villagers  of  the  neighboring  hamlets. 
Liquieres,  Asnieres,  whose  descendents  trace  back  to  him 
their  Protestant  faith.  What  was  it  then  that  brought 
about  the  great  change,  which  made  of  the  former  can- 
didate to  Holy  Orders  and  of  the  classical  scholar  a 
preacher  of  God's  word,  and  the  great  reformer  of 
French  speaking  and  of  many  other  countries?  The 
question  of  Calvin's  conversion  is  not  an  easy  one  to 
solve.  He  was  somewhat  shy  in  speaking  of  his  inner 
life,  and  we  do  not  have  from  others  trustworthy  records 
of  his  change  of  mind.  Yet  when  we  consider  the  time 
in  which  he  lived,  and  the  men  with  whom  he  associated, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  make  out  under  what  influences  took 
place  that  momentous   evolution. 

The  year  young  Calvin  arrived  in  Paris,  1523,  is  the 
very  one  in  which  the  great  movement  produced  by  the 
Biblical  studies  of  Lefevre  and  by  the  events  taking  place 
in  Germany,  was  becoming  irresistible. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  267 

On  the  throne  of  France  was  Francis  I.,  the  gallant 
and  handsome  King.  His  beauty,  his  intelligence,  his 
bravery,  made  him  the  most  chivalrous  prince  of  his  time. 
None  could  surpass  him  in  the  art  of  riding  a  stallion, 
or  of  weilding  a  lance  in  a  tournament.  Courageous, 
and  even  foolhardy  on  the  field  of  battle,  he  was  an  in- 
tense lover  of  art,  the  promoter  of  learning  and  of  litera- 
ture, and  the  builder  of  the  most  exquisite  gems  of 
Renaissance  architecture.  Francis  was  no  friend  of  the 
Monks.  Their  ignorance  and  coarseness  repelled  him, 
and  gladly  would  he  have  welcomed  a  reformation  in 
the  church,  had  he  not  discerned  in  the  Protestants  an 
austerity  which  was  a  rebuke  to  his  licentiousness,  and  a 
love  of  freedom  which  would  have  been  a  check  on  his 
immoderate  thirst  for  domination. 

Next  to  Francis,  not  on  the  throne,  but  very  near  it, 
was  his  sister,  the  charming  and  graceful  Marguerite  de 
Valois,  duchess  of  Alencon,  and  later  on  Queen  of 
Navarre.  To  her  natural  beauty,  she  added  a  quick  in- 
telligence, a  great  taste  for  letters — she  was  a  good  poet — 
and  what  is  better  still,  a  real  tenderness  and  earnestness 
of  soul.  In  a  court  noted  for  its  levity,  she  set  the  ex- 
ample of  a  pure  life,  and  if  all  her  writings  are  not 
irreproachable,  her  private  conduct  never  gave  rise  to  the 
slightest  suspicion. 

It  was  under  Marguerite's  protection  that  old  Lefevre 
d'Etaples,  doctor  of  the  University  of  Paris — a  man  who, 
though  he  never  formally  joined  the  Reformed  Church, 
yet  can  in  truth  be  called  "The  Father  of  French  Protes- 
tantism"— that  Lefevre  published  his  famous  commen- 
tary on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  In  that  book,  Lefevre 
affirmed  in  15 12 — note  the  date,  five  years  before  the 
posting    up    of    Luther's    theses    in    Wittenberg — over 


268  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

against  the  traditions  of  the  Roman  Church  the  sov- 
ereign authority  of  the  word  of  God,  and  absolute  in- 
efficacy  of  good  works  and  merit  for  salvation.  In  the 
following  years,  Lefevre  followed  up  that  courageous 
act  by  publishing  in  French  a  translation  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, in  1 52 1  the  gospels,  in  1524  the  other  books  of  the 
New,  and  in  1528  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Briconnet,  Bishop  of  Meaux,  the  friend  of  Marguerite 
de  Valois,  sedulously  propagated  at  his  own  expense, 
those  books  in  his  diocese,  and  many  of  them  penetrated 
into  Paris./ 

The  effect  of  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar 
tongue  was  extraordinary  and  very  rapid.  "Such  a  desire," 
says  a  chronicler,  "was  begotten  in  the  hearts  of  many 
to  know  the  way  of  salvation,  that  the  artisan,  wool- 
carders,  combers  and  others  had  no  other  thought,  while 
working  with  their  hands,  than  to  confer  about  the  word 
of  God,  and  to  seek  it  in  their  consolation." 

Very  soon  a  host  of  distinguished  men  assembled 
around  the  old  teacher.  Michel  d'Avande  Marguerite's 
private  chaplain,  Gerard  Roussel,  the  preacher,  Leclercq, 
the  pastor  of  the  little  congregation  at  Meaux,  the  noble 
Louis  de  Berquin,  as  learned  as  he  was  courageous,  and 
above  all,  William  Farel,  from  Gap  in  Dauphine. 

All  these  men,  and  we  can  add  women,  were  not  only 
Calvin's  contemporaries,  living  in  Paris  at  the  very  time 
when  he  was  persuing  his  studies,  but  many  of  them  be- 
came his  friends  and  correspondents.  Can  you  wonder 
that  a  young  man  of  that  independence,  culture  and 
earnestness  of  purpose,  thrown  into  the  company  of  such 
men,  should  have  opened  his  mind  to  the  ideas  they  were 
advocating  with  such  courage  and  intensity. 

But  very   soon   a    formidable   opposition   breaks   out 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  269 

against  the  innovators.  Not  only  are  Lefevre's  com- 
mentaries censured  and  all  translations  of  the  Bible  con- 
demned to  be  burned,  but  the  reformers  themselves  are 
ruthlessly  persecuted.  Lefevre  and  Fare!  flee  from  Paris 
to  save  their  lives.  Fourteen  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion of  Meaux  are  arrested  and  burned,  after  having 
had  their  tongues  cut  off.  Their  pastor,  Jean  Leclercq, 
has  his  fist  hewn  away,  his  nose  torn  with  red  hot  pin- 
cers, his  arms  and  breast  lacerated,  and  then  he  is  led 
to  the  stable  to  be  burned.  Suddenly  a  cry  is  heard  in 
the  crowd :  "Vive  Jesus  Christ  et  ses  enseignes."  "Hur- 
rah for  Christ  and  His  marks!"  It  is  Leclercq's  own 
mother  rejoicing  over  her  son's  death  for  his  Master. 
John  Calvin  was  in  Paris  at  the  very  time  of  Leclercq's 
and  his  friends'  martyrdoms.  We  can  readily  imagine 
what  impression  they  made  upon  the  young  man  whose 
faith  in  the  church  of  his  birth  was  already  more  than 
shaken.  Add  to  that,  Calvin's  intimate  friendship  with 
Pierre  Robert  Olivetan,  the  translator  of  the  French 
Bible,  who  first  of  all  introduced  him  into  the  study  of 
Holy  Scripture,  and  the  influence  of  the  German  Mel- 
chinr  Wolmar,  Professor  in  Bourges,  a  decided  Lutheran, 
that  is  a  Protestant,  who  taught  him  Greek,  the  Greek  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  you  have,  humanly  speaking, 
a  sufficient  explanation  of  his  change  of  mind.  "Search 
the  Scriptures,"  Olivetan  used  to  say  to  this  young 
friend ;  "give  yourself  up  entirely  to  the  study  of  God's 
word." 

God's  Holy  Word!  The  French  as  well  as  the  Ger- 
man and  Swiss,  and  every  other  Reformation  has  no 
other  origin,  and  it  is  on  that  anvil  that  were  forged  the 
arms  which  were  soon  after  to  overthrow  the  power  of 
the  Roman  Church,  and  open  the  kingdom  of  God  to 
thousands  of  believers. 


270  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

So  decidedly  is  Calvin  on  the  side  of  the  new  evange- 
lical ideas,  that  on  his  return  to  Paris  in  1531,  he  mixes 
with  no  others  than  with  the  little  persecuted  flock. 
Very  soon  Calvin  is  known  in  the  congregation,  he  is 
consulted,  he  preaches  to  them,  he  defends  them  against 
certain  enthusiasts  who  would,  if  they  were  allowed  free 
course,  ruin  the  cause.  He  gradually  comes  to  the  front 
rank,  which  is  his,  and  is  recognized  as  the  ablest  ex- 
ponent of  a  religion  founded,  not  upon  tradition,  but  on 
the  authority  of  the  Scriptures. 

On  the  first  of  November,  1533,  the  rector  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  Nicholas  Copp,  had  to  deliver  a  dis- 
course for  All  Saints'  Day.  He  took  for  his  subject  a 
rather  unusual  topic  for  a  doctor  of  medicine:  "Christian 
Philosophy."  In  this  discourse,  the  orator  opposes  the 
gospel  of  the  law  and  to  the  merit,  speaks  of  "the  im- 
mense good  will  of  God  towards  us  men,"  of  "the  as- 
surance of  salvation  based  on  the  promise  of  Christ  alone, 
and  ends  by  declaring  those  blessed  "who  are  persecuted 
for  justice  sake  and  are  called  heretics,  imposters,  se- 
ducers and  accused."  The  allusion  was  too  direct,  and 
the  proclamation  too  hardy.  The  Sarbonne  did  not  mis- 
take the  purpose,  and  trembled  with  rage.  The  prisons 
were  immediately  filled  with  Lutherans,  ready  to  be  sent 
to  the  stake. 

And  who  was  the  author  of  that  masterpiece  of  elo- 
quence as  well  as  of  courage?  It  was  our  reformer  him- 
self. The  fact  is  certain  to-day,  the  manuscript,  or  rather 
the  first  page  of  it,  has  been  found  in  Geneva,  written 
in  Calvin's  own  hand.  The  Rector  Copp,  little  accus- 
tomed to  handle  theological  subjects,  but  sharing  the  new 
evangelical  ideas,  had  asked  his  young  friend  to  compose 
the  address  for  him.     Responsible  for  that  daring  act, 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  271 

he  had  to  flee  from  Paris,  and  Calvin  himself  barely 
escaped  the  Inquisitor's  hands.  He  was  let  down,  they 
say,  by  his  friends  in  a  basket  from  the  window,  while 
the  baliff  Morin  was  walking  up  the  staircase. 

Then  began  for  Calvin  a  wandering  life,  which  lasted 
three  years,  and  ended  only  when  he  settled  in  Geneva. 
At  the  end  of  1533  he  is  in  Angouleme  in  the  South 
West  with  Canon  du  Tillet,  who  became  for  a  time  his 
intimate  friend.  Shortly  after,  we  find  him  visiting 
old  Lefevre  at  Nevac,  and  preaching  to  a  few  peasants 
in  a  cave  near  Poitiers.  Then  again  he  is  in  Basel  and 
in  Strasburg.  Then  again  he  is  in  Italy,  at  the  court  of 
the  Duke  of  Fevare.  There  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
winning  over  to  the  reformed  faith  the  Duchess  herself, 
of  the  Royal  house  of  France,  sister-in-law  to  the  King, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  women  of  that  remarkable 
time. 

But  those  three  years  were  not  only  spent  in  journey- 
ing, and  in  friendly  intercourse  with  the  humble  and  the 
great.  From  the  day  in  which  he  had  found  himself 
before  the  little  assembly  of  worshippers  in  Paris,  in  the 
home  of  the  pious  merchant,  Etienne  de  la  Forge,  Cal- 
vin had  felt  the  need  of  the  hour ;  a  complete  and  syste- 
matic exposition  of  Christian  doctrine  such  as  he  had 
found  it  in  the  Scriptures.  And  through  all  his  journey- 
ings,  he  kept  his  object  well  in  view  and  worked  at  it 
perseveringly. 

In  1535,  while  Calvin  was  in  Basel,  the  King  of 
France  who  needed  for  his  fight  against  the  Emperor 
Charles,  the  help  of  the  German  princes,  mostly  favor- 
able, as  you  know,  to  the  Reformation,  sedulously  pro- 
pagated the  notion  that  the  Protestants,  whom  he  was 
at  the  time  bitterly  persecuting,  were  nothing,  as  he  said, 


272  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

but  a  pack  of  enthusiasts,  enemies  of  public  order, 
furious  madmen,  excited  by  the  father  of  Hes."  That 
was  too  much  for  the  man,  who  in  Paris,  and  elsewhere, 
had  been  witness  of  the  ardent  faith,  blameless  conduct, 
and  heoric  deaths  of  the  French  believers.  He  rapidly- 
put  the  finishing  stroke  to  the  great  work  he  had  been 
preparing,  and  seizing  his  pen,  which  by  this  time,  had 
become  that  of  a  master,  he  wrote  that  famous  preface 
to  his  Institutes,  which  begins  in  this  strain : 

"It  is  your  office.  Sire,  to  turn  away  neither  your  ears 
nor  your  heart  from  such  a  just  defense,  principally 
when  the  matter  is  about  such  a  great  cause  as  the  glory 
of  God.  How  it  shall  be  maintained  on  earth,  how  His 
truth  shall  retain  honor  and  integrity,  how  the  reign  of 
Christ  shall  remain  supreme.  O  matter  most  worthy  of 
your  ears  and  of  your  royal  throne!  For  that  alone 
makes  the  rear  king,  if  he  deems  himself  the  servant  of 
God  in  the  government  of  his  kingdom." 

Did  the  lighthearted  and  futile  king  ever  read  Cal- 
vin's eloquent  and  impassionate  address?  After  all,  it 
is  of  little  consequence.  Those  words,  burning  with  the 
love  of  the  oppressed  and  with  jealousy  for  the  glory  of 
God,  reached  over  the  king's  head  all  the  thinking  world, 
and  that  was  what  Calvin  wished  to  attain.  They  carried 
the  young  man's  fame  to  the  most  remote  regions,  and 
dubbed  him  a  master  in  theology  and  a  leader  of  men. 

Such  is  tHe  man,  who  at  the  age  of  twenty-six — it  is 
hardly  credible — wrote  the  Institutes.  He  is  as  well  pre- 
pared to  play  his  part  on  the  scene  of  the  world  as  a 
man  can  be.  Brought  up  in  the  very  bosom  of  the 
church,  he  has  known  from  his  youth  its  weakness  and 
abuses.  All  the  light  that  human  intelligence  can  shed, 
has  been  poured  into  his  mind.     Unlike  Luther,  shut  up 


St.  Peter's  Cathedral, 
Geneva. 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  273 

in  his  convent,  he  has  been  placed  in  contact  with  the 
greatest  men  of  his  age.  He  has  mixed  in  their  society, 
and  absorbed  their  learning. 

A  prodigious  worker,  a  rigorous  ascete,  he  is  full  of 
youthful  buoyancy,  fluent  in  conversation,  ardent  in  dis- 
cussion, quick  in  lively  and  often  witty  repartee,  he 
astonishes  every  one  by  the  enormous  quantity  of  knowl- 
edge he  has  stored  up  in  his  mind.  Of  a  rather  retir- 
ing disposition  he  has  a  magnetic  attraction  for  all  who 
meet  him,  so  that  those  who  have  seen  him  once,  want  to 
see  him  again.  Above  all,  by  the  experiences  of  his  own 
life,  by  witnessing  the  faith  of  the  new  believers,  by  his 
study  of  the  word  of  God,  he  has  obtained  a  full  grasp 
of  the  truth  such  as  it  is  in  Christ,  and  he  is  burning  to 
communicate  it  to  others. 

In  a  word,  by  this  time  Calvin  is  thoroughly 
equipped,  ready  for  the  task  that  God  had  prepared  for 
him.  How  he  came  by  that  task,  and  how  he  accom- 
plished it,  is  what  remains  for  us  to  see. 


In  1536,  Calvin  arrived  in  Geneva.  Geneva,  ''the 
fair  city  by  the  blue  lake  and  the  rushing  Rhone,  on 
which  Mont  Blanc,  the  giant  of  the  Alps,  looks  down 
through  all  the  centuries  from  his  dome  of  everlasting 
snow,"  is  a  little  town  hedged  in  between  the  mighty 
empires  of  France,  Germany,  Italy  and  Spain.  It  is 
tmder  the  suzerainty  of  its  powerful  neighbor,  the  Duke 
of  Savoy,  represented  by  the  Bishop,  but,  for  almost  a 
century,  its  citizens  have  striven  to  shake  off  that  yoke, 
and  to  obtain  complete  freedom.  At  the  same  time, 
thanks  to  the  influence  of  its  aflies,  the  Swiss,  the  re- 
formation  has  been   introduced   into  the   town   and   the 


274  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

citizens  have  not  been  slow  to  see  that  the  break  with  the 
Bishop  and  with  Rome  would  be  the  strongest  guarantee 
of  their  political  independence. 

In  1532,  William  Farel,  the  fiery  Farel,  the  disciple 
of  Lefevre,  and  his  friend  Viret,  arrive  in  Geneva  and 
begin  to  preach.  Three  years  later,  a  crowd  of  people  in- 
vade the  Cathedral,  pull  down  the  images  of  the  Saints, 
and  expel  the  priests  from  their  stronghold.  In  1536, 
the  reformation  of  the  church  is  solemnly  voted  by  all 
the  citizens  assembled  in  council.  "It  is  decided,"  so 
run  the  minutes,  "and  by  a  general  show  of  hands  con- 
cluded, promised  and  sworn  that  we  will  all  unanimously, 
with  the  help  of  God,  live  in  this  Holy  evangelical  law 
and  word  of  God,  as  it  is  announced  to  us,  casting  off 
all  masses,  ceremonies,  papal  abuses,  images,  idols  and 
the  like,  and  that  we  will  live  in  union  and  righteous 
obedience." 

The  victory  seemed  complete  for  the  cause  of  the 
gospel  in  the  little  town;  but  those  who  knew  the  actual 
state  of  things,  were  not  buoyant  as  to  the  future.  Many 
of  those  who  had  acclaimed  the  change,  had  done  so 
more  for  political  reasons  than  from  religious  conviction, 
and  besides,  the  scandalous  living  of  the  clergy  had  for 
years  propagated  among  the  people  a  license  and  im- 
morality which  were  incompatible  with  the  profession 
of  the  gospel.  Farel,  himself,  inimitable  as  he  was  as  a 
preacher  of  the  reformation,  and  irresistable  in  his  con- 
demnation of  the  errors  of  Rome,  did  not  possess  those 
qualities  of  organization,  of  wise  and  prudent  states- 
manship which  were  necessary  at  this  point.  He  felt  it, 
and  looked  about  him  for  a  helper. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  one  day  of  July,  1536,  the 
rumor  went  abroad  that  a  young  French  doctor,  already 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  275 

famous  for  his  writings,  had  arrived  in  the  city.  Cal- 
vin, on  his  return  from  Italy,  wels  on  his  way  to  Basel. 
His  intention  was  to  spend  only  one  night  in  the  city. 
But,  Farel,  having  heard  of  his  arrival,  saw  that  he 
was  the  providential  man  to  organize  the  reformation  in 
Geneva.  He  instantly  betook  himself  to  the  inn  where 
Calvin  was  staying,  unfolded  to  him  the  situation  of  the 
church,  and  asked  him  to  remain.  Calvin  was  very  re- 
luctant to  consent.  He  pleaded  his  plans,  his  studies, 
his  taste  for  quiet  and  retirement.  The  more  Farel 
presses  him  the  more  he  is  terrified  at  the  prospect  which 
opens  up  before  him.  "Then,"  says  Calvin  himself, 
'"Farel,  trembling  with  a  holy  wrath,  stands  up,  and  with 
his  thundering  voice,  said :  Tn  the  name  of  the  Almighty 
God  if  you  allege  your  studies,  and  refuse  to  give  your- 
self up  with  us  to  this  work  of  the  Lord,  I  declare  it 
unto  you,  God  will  curse  you,  for  you  are  seeking  your- 
self rather  than  Christ.'  "  ''And  that  word,"  adds  Cal- 
vin, "so  disturbed  and  terrified  me  that  I  desisted  from 
my  journey,  as  if  God,  Himself,  from  above,  had 
stretched  out  his  hand  to  arrest  me." 

It  was  thus  Calvin  was  given  to  Geneva,  and  Geneva 
to  Calvin.  Henceforward  the  man  and  the  city,  the 
city  and  the  man  are  one. 

His  entrance  on  his  new  sphere  of  work  was  in  a 
way  dramatic,  but  it  was  far  from  sensational.  Strange 
to  say,  the  minutes  of  the  Town  Council  do  not  as  much 
as  mention  the  reformer's  name.  On  the  5th  of  Sep- 
tember of  the  same  year,  we  find  the  following  item: 
"Master  William  Farel  exposes  the  necessity  there  is  of 
the  lectures  begun  in  the  Cathedral  by  that  Frenchman, 
'ille  Gallus,'  and  asks  that  he  be  retained  and  fed."  The 
good  councillors  were  evidently  not  greatly  impressed  by 


2/6  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

the  arrival  of  "that  Frenchman,"  or  by  the  honor  done 
to  their  city  thereby,  for  five  months  later  we  find  again 
in  the  same  minutes  the  following:  "Here  is  spoken  of 
Calvinus,  who  as  yet  has  received  nothing,  and  is  de- 
cide that  he  be  given  six  crowns  (about  as  many  dol- 
lars). Six  dollars  for  five  months'  work!  I  do  not  know 
whether  many  of  the  fathers  and  brethren  here  present 
would  be  content  with  such  a  salary.  ,  .  .  And  Cal- 
vin has  been  accused  of  riotous  and  expensive  living ! 

Calvin's  immediate  task  was  to  apply  the  principles 
of  the  Reformation  to  every  day  life  of  the  citizens  of 
Geneva.  "When  I  first  came,"  he  wrote  later,  "ser- 
mons were  preached,  the  idols  had  been  sought  out  and 
burned,  but  there  was  no  other  reformation."  It  ap- 
peared to  him  there  was  no  great  advantage  in  throw- 
ing ofif  the  bondage  of  Rome,  if  men  did  not  accept  the 
law  of  Christ  and  become  a  holy  people.  During  the 
first  years  of  the  Reformation,  and  up  to  Calvin's  ar- 
rival, no  discipline  had  been  applied  to  admission  to  the 
Lord's  table.  Every  man  and  woman,  whether  believer 
or  not,  sinner  or  saint,  approached  it  as  he  or  she  felt  in- 
clined to  do,  and  without  even  the  preparation  that  was 
required  in  former  times  by  the  confessional.  Calvin  in- 
sisted that  the  church  should  have  the  power  to  exclude 
the  undeserving  and  that  its  censures  and  excommunica- 
tions should  be  upheld  and  enforced  by  the  arm  of  the 
state. 

Another  object  which  Calvin  aimed  at  with  all  the 
perseverance  and  tenacity  which  were  in  his  nature  was 
to  obtain  in  the  small  city  that  perfect  unity  of  faith  on 
which  alone  it  seemed  to  him  possible  to  build  up  a  re- 
public worthy  of  God.  For  that  reason  a  confession 
of      faith      was     drawn     up,      the      dififerent     councils 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  277 

were  first  asked  to  adhere,  and  then  all  the  citizens  by 
batches  of  ten,  were  invited  to  follow  their  lead. 

That  was,  as  we  see  to-day,  going  decidedly  too  far. 
The  church  has  not  the  right  to  enforce  religious  faith 
on  all  the  citizens  of  a  community,  and  the  state  has  not 
the  right  to  use  its  power  to  carry  into  efifect  the  censures 
of  the  church.  But  if  Calvin  erred,  he  erred  for  con- 
science sake.  His  ideal  of  a  community  in  which  all 
should  be  members  of  the  church  and  of  a  church  in 
which  all  should  be  saints,  was  an  impossible  one  to 
realize  and  especially  by  the  enactments  of  the  law.  But 
it  was  a  high  ideal,  and  we  can  only  thank  God,  and 
bless  Calvin's  memory  for  having  placed  it  once  at  least 
before  our  eyes. 

For  the  present,  the  carrying  out  of  the  program, 
proved  to  be  above  the  j^owers  even  of  such  a  man  as  he. 
It  would  have  been  difficult  under  any  circumstances  and 
in  any  community.  Among  such  a  stiff-necked  people 
as  the  Genevese  (I  can  only  say  so,  since  I  am  one  of 
them)  and  considering  the  licentiousness  which  had  pre- 
vailed in  the  city  for  years,  it  was  an  utter  impossibility. 
The  opposition  to  the  reformers  and  to  their  regulations 
waxed  stronger  and  stronger,  and  on  the  23rd  of  April, 
1538,  two  years  only  after  he  had  arrived  there,  Calvin 
and  his  friend  Farel,  for  he  also  had  remained  in  Geneva, 
were  banished  from  the  town.  "Well,"  they  exclaimed, 
on  hearing  the  sentence,  "so  much  the  better!  If  we  had 
served  men,  we  should  have  had  a  sorry  recompense,  but 
we  serve  a  greater  Master,  and  He  will  give  us  our  re- 
ward." 

*       t-       *       *       *       * 

In  the  old  German  town  of  Strassburg,  whither  the 
Reformer  betook  himself,  he  found,  it  must  be  owned, 


278  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

a  more  congenial  atmosphere  than  on  the  shores  of 
the  bhie  Leman.  Strassburg-  was  earnest,  God-fearing 
and  studious  city.  Around  the  Church  of  St.  Thomas 
nestled  a  group  of  men  who  were  among  the  most  re- 
markable of  their  time.  Bucer  and  Capito,  the  two 
great  and  learned  reformers,  Matthew  Zell,  the  popu- 
lar preacher,  Jacob  Sturm,  the  eminent  statesman,  and 
John  Sturm,  the  renowned  pedagogue.  Truly  a 
unique  group  of  men!  Moderate,  intelligent,  full  of 
faith  but  also  prudence,  they  led  their  people  on  pro- 
gressively and  without  break  from  the  darkness  of 
Rome  to  the  full  light  of  the  Gospel. 

In  Strassburg,  Calvin  was  at  the  same  time,  pastor 
and  professor.  The  salary  was  small — one  florin  a 
week — and  at  one  time  Calvin  was  so  poor,  that  he 
was  obliged  to  sell  all  his  books ;  but  the  opportunities 
for  intercourse  as  well  as  for  study  were  incomparable, 
and  Calvin,  we  may  be  sure,  made  good  use  of  them. 

In  the  meantime,  things  had  not  been  going  on  well 
in  Geneva.  The  pastors  who  had  succeeded  Calvin  were 
decidedly  inferior  to  their  task,  and  several  had  to  be 
dismissed.  Of  the  four  magistrates  who  had  deposed 
him,  three  went  wrong,  and  one  was  beheaded.  Every 
one  felt  that  Calvin  alone  was  strong  enough  to  r&- 
establish  order  and  decency,  and  he  was  unanimously 
recalled. 

"For  the  next  twenty-three  years,"  says  one  of  his 
biographers,  "Calvin  was  the  dominating  soul  of  that 
little  city.  He  had  many  and  hard  battles  still  to 
fight,  but  his  influence  grew  stronger  and  stronger, 
until  he  bore  down  all  opposition,  moulded  Geneva  in 
most  things  after  the  pattern  of  his  own  heart,  and 
raised  it  at  last  to  the  dignity  of  becoming  a  model  for 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  279 

the  other  Reformed  Churches,  as  well  as  the  mother- 
city  of  them  all.  John  Knox  has  described  it  as  "the 
most  perfect  school  of  Christ  that  ever  was  on  earth, 
since  the  days  of  the  Apostles."  "In  other  places,"  he 
adds,  "I  confess  Christ  to  be  truly  preached,  but  man- 
ners and  religion  to  be  so  sincerely  reformed,  I  have 
not  yet  seen  in  any  other  place  beside." 

Now  for  his  contests  with  the  Libertines  of 
Geneva,  as  well  as  with  the  divers  heretics  he  had  to 
do  with,  Calvin  is  accused  of  a  great  many  things.  He 
is  held  up  for  his  high-handed  dealing  and  for  his 
tyranous  disposition,  he  is  accused  of  having  been 
unduly  sensitive,  and  jealous  of  his  authority.  Now, 
I  admit  that  he  did  sometimes  overstep  the  mark.  I 
grant  that  he  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  away  by 
his  nervously  overstrung  and  passionate  temper, — let 
him  who  has  never  been  ruffled  in  his  life  cast  the  first 
stone.  But  when  I  remember  how  he  was  constantly 
provoked  by  the  vilest  gang  of  calumniators,  when  I 
consider  that  his  health  was  the  most  miserable  that 
one  can  imagine,  and  that  at  a  certain  period  of  his 
life  he  was  overcome  by  four  illnesses  at  the  same  time, 
"I  rather  wonder,"  to  quote  Prof.  Doumergue's  words, 
"at  the  spirit  of  moderation  and  conciliation  which  he 
manifested  in  the  midst  of  these  crises  of  pain,  and 
how  he  possessed  his  soul  by  a  patience,  which  showed 
all  the  more  the  power  of  divine  grace,  that  it  could  be 
less  attributed  to  his  human  nature." 

And  as  to  the  burning  of  Michel  Servetus,  with 
which  he  has  been  so  much  reproached,  let  it  be  re- 
membered that  the  Spanish  anti-trinitarian  was  con- 
demned, not  by  Calvin  alone,  but  by  the  Council  of 
Geneva,  composed  at  that  time  of  men  by  no  means 


28o  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

subject  to  the  Reformer's  influence,  and  that  that  con- 
demnation was  approved  of  by  all  the  leading  re- 
formers previously  consulted.  Far  from  urging  the 
judges  to  excessive  severity,  Calvin,  it  is  well  known, 
pleaded  for  a  milder  form  of  punishment.  If,  there- 
fore, Servetus'  death  was  an  error,  and  we  think  it 
was,  it  was  not  Calvin's  error  alone,  but  that  of  his 
generation,  and  it  is  as  unjust  to  brand  him  as  a  blood- 
thirsty tyrant,  as  it  is  to  judge  him  from  our  own 
standpoint  of  liberty  and  toleration,  which  is  the  result 
of  centuries  of  evolution. 


However,  to  know  the  real  Calvin,  and  admire  him 
as  he  deserves  to  be  admired,  we  must  look  away  from 
this  phase  of  his  life,  and  consider  him  as  the  pastor, 
preacher  and  teacher  of  men.  In  that  respect,  he  was 
incomparable.  Not  only  did  he  preside  weekly  at  the 
Consistory  and  the  Pastor's  meeting,  visit  the  citizens 
in  their  houses,  and  especially  the  sick,  preach  daily 
every  second  week,  inspect  the  famous  school  and 
academy  which  he  had  founded,  lecture  to  the  students, 
but  he  carried  on  his  strong  shoulders  the  care  of  all 
the  churches.  His  sermons, — we  have  three  thousand 
of  them, — were  immediately  taken  down  by  fast 
writers,  published  and  translated  into  many  languages. 
So  were  his  Commentaries  on  almost  every  Book  of 
the  Bible,  which  he  dictated  at  home  to  his  secretaries. 
And  if  you  remember  that  besides  all  this,  Calvin 
found  time,  in  his  spare  hours  to  carry  on  an  immense 
correspondence  with  the  leading  men  and  churches  of 
the  times, — the  complete  collection  of  all  his  writings, 
published  in  our  days,  fills  58  folio  volumes, — you  feel 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  281 

giddy  at  the  thoug-ht  of  what  that  man  accompHshed 
and  you  can  only  praise  God  that  he  raised  up  such 
an  admirable  defender  of  our  faith. 

Who  can  say  what  ardor,  what  perseverance,  what 
indomitable  energy  and  what  tenderness  of  heart  he 
displayed  in  that  immense  religious  propaganda  whose 
very  life  and  soul  he  was  up  to  his  last  breath?  What 
a  wonderful  apostolate  that  was,  for  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  among  the  princes  and  the  peasants, 
the  learned  and  the  ignorant.  In  France  alone,  more 
than  2,000  churches  were  organized  by  his  care,  in 
England  he  advises  King  Edward  and  the  Duke  of 
Somerset,  in  Scotland  he  inspires  John  Knox,  in 
Poland  he  opposes  the  anti-trinitarians,  and  he  is  in 
touch  with  all  the  heads  of  the  German  Reformation, 
working  perseveringly  for  the  great  object  he  had  at 
heart :  the  union  of  all  true  believers. 

In  Geneva,  very  soon  after  the  founding  of  the 
academy,  hundreds  of  students  flocked  together  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  attracted  by  the  fame  of  that 
institution,  and  by  him  who  was  its  leading  spirit. 
After  having  listened  to  his  sermons,  and  imbibed  his 
teachings,  these  men  returned  to  their  several  countries 
inflamed  with  faith  and  zeal,  and  set  to  their  work  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  with  the  ardor  and  courage  of 
martyrs.  To  him,  these  pastors  and  confessors  looked 
for  council  and  encouragement,  and  it  was  a  letter  from 
him  they  expected  to  strengthen  them  when  tortured,  in 
prison,  or  marching  to  the  stake.  They  loved  and  re- 
spected him  as  a  father,  and  we  can  understand  his  proud 
answer  to  those  who  upbraided  him  for  having  no  chil- 
dren of  his  own :  "Children,"  he  said,  "I  have  them  by 
the  thousand  in  all  the  Christian  world!" 


282  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

But  such  constant  care  and  ceaseless  toil  soon  told 
upon  his  already  enfeebled  constitution.  Calvin  was 
never  a  strong  man,  and  during  ten  years  of  his  life,  in 
order  to  retain  the  clearness  of  his  mind,  he  never  ate 
more  than  one  meal  a  day.  During  the  later  years,  he 
was  a  constant  sufferer.  The  doctors  have  ascribed  to 
him,  as  has  just  been  said,  four  serious  illnesses  at 
the  same  time ;  pleurisy,  consumption,  nephritic  pains 
and  gout,  besides  countless  minor  ailments.  "He  had," 
says  his  contemporary  and  friend,  Theodore  Beza, 
"such  a  feeble  body,  so  weakened  by  watches  and  too 
great  sobriety,  that  no  one  who  saw  him  could  think 
that  he  could  live  at  all."  And  yet  all  that  feebleness 
and  pain  did  not  prevent  him  from  working  for  others 
to  the  very  last  weeks  of  his  life. 

In  the  beginning  of  1564,  his  friends  felt  that  the 
end  was  near.  On  the  6th  of  February,  while  he  was 
preaching,  he  was  taken  with  such  a  violent  fit  of 
hemorrhage,  that  he  was  obliged  to  stop  several  times 
during  the  sermon.  On  the  27th  of  April,  the  Council 
having  heard  that  he  "was  pressed  by  illness  even 
unto  death,"  decided  that  they  would  go  to  his  house 
to  hear  what  he  would  have  to  say  to  them.  Calvin, 
receiving  this  official  visit,  thanked  the  members  of 
the  Council  for  having  supported  him  in  his  too  vehem- 
ent affections  and  in  his  vices,  but  protested  before 
God  that  he  had  always  announced  to  them  the  word 
of  the  Lord.  Finally  he  exhorted  them  to  honor  God 
more  and  more,  for  it  is  He  alone,  he  added,  who  main- 
tains the  state.  The  next  day,  his  leave-taking  from 
his  colleagues,  the  other  ministers,  was  even  more 
touching.  "I  have  had  many  infirmities,"  he  said, 
"which  you  have  had  to  bear,  and  even  all  that  I  have 


o 


Q 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  283 

done  was  worth  nothing.  The  wicked  will  lay  hold 
of  this  word,  but  I  repeat  it :  all  that  I  have  done  was 
worth  nothing.  I  am  a  miserable  creature.  But  I  can 
say  that  I  had  the  will  to  do  good,  and  my  faults  have 
always  displeased  me,  and  the  root  of  the  fear  of 
God  has  been  in  my  heart." 

A  few  days  later,  old  Farel,  aged  75,  came  on  foot 
all  the  way  from  Neuchatel,  to  take  leave  of  his  friend. 
From  that  time  up  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  prayed 
continually.  Jn  the  fits  of  acute  sufferings,  he  was 
heard  to  murmur:  "O  Lord,  Thou  bruisest,  but  I  will 
suffer  in  patience,  for  it  is  Thy  hand  that  has  done  it." 

On  the  27th  of  May,  1564,  at  about  eight  in  the 
evening,  so  quietly  that  up  to  the  last  moment  he  was 
able  to  converse  with  those  around  him,  Calvin  passed 
away.  "And  that  was  how,"  writes  Beza,  "the  greatest 
light  in  the  church  went  out  at  the  time  when  the  sun 
ceased  to  illuniine  the  earth." 

The  next  day  his  body  was  carried  to  the  common 
cemetery  without  any  pomp  or  ceremony  whatever. 
According  to  his  own  wish,  no  monument,  not  even 
a  stone,  marked  the  place  of  his  tomb  ;  only  on  the 
minutes  of  the  Consistory  was  marked  the  following 
item:  "On  the  2'jtJi  of  May  of  tJie  present  year  Calvin 
zuent  to  God/'.  That  was  the  only  eulogy  pronounced  at 
the  death  of  that  mighty  man  of  God,  let  us  rather  say, 
of  that  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord. 

Such  is  the  man  whose  birth,  400  years  ago,  we  are 
celebrating  and  whose  powerful  mind  moulded  the 
faith  and  discipline  of  Presbyterian  churches  all  over 
the  world.  A  character  of  wonderful  complexity, 
varied,  many-sided,  and  therefore  very  difficult  to 
fathom  and  thoroughly  comprehend. 


284  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

He  is  constantly  pre-occupied  with  his  work,  bent 
upon  his  ckity,  "The  man,"  says  a  writer,  "of  his  task, 
the  man  of  the  Church,  the  man  of  the  Christian 
world."  And  yet  he  is  not  opposed  to  relaxation  and 
repose.  He  is  tender  in  his  affections,  a  good  and  lov- 
ing husband,  true  to  his  friends. 

At  times,  we  find  him  austere  and  grave ;  we  should 
like  to  see  him  more  genial,  more  open  to  the  delight 
of  art,  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful.  But  when 
we  penetrate  below  that  rugged  and  apparently  un- 
artistic  surface,  we  are  delighted  to  discover,  here 
and  there,  in  his  writings,  a  very  delicate  taste  and  a 
high  appreciation  of  the  beauties  in  nature  and  in  the 
arts  of  man,  and  we  understand  what  he  says  of  him- 
self that  he  was  "of  a  temperament  inclined  to  poetry." 

He  is  conscious  of  his  power  and,  in  a  measure, 
jealous  of  his  authority,  but  Calvin  is  very  far  from 
being  the  despot  some  have  made  him  out  to  be.  He 
is  ready  to  avow  his  mistakes  and  faults,  he  is  gener- 
ous and  large-hearted  towards  his  opponents,  pro- 
vided they  make  the  slightest  concession,  and  he,  the 
master  of  masters,  the  man  before  whom  the  greatest 
avow  their  inferiority,  he  is  humble.  That  is  recog- 
nized even  by  such  a  man  as  the  French  writer,  Fer- 
dinand Buisson,  who  is  by  no  means  one  of  his 
admirers. 

Before  everything,  Calvin  is  the  man  of  one  idea, 
and  of  one  book.  The  book  is  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
idea  the  glory  of  God.  It  is  told  of  him,  that  often, 
in  the  middle  of  a  conversation  or  of  a  discussion,  he 
would  pause  one  moment,  take  off  with  one  hand  his 
black  cap,  and  with  the  other,  point  to  heaven,  saying: 
"All  for  the  glory  of  God."  In  that  gesture,  Calvin  is 


Calvin  Memorial  Addresses  285 

entirely.  Absolutely  disinterested,  he  lives  and  dies  a 
poor  man,  and  all  that  he  left  behind  him,  including 
all  his  books,  did  not  amount  to  $300.  "The  power  of 
that  man,"  used  to  say  Pope  Pius  IV.,  "is  that  money 
is  nothing  tO'  him." 

But  what  was  something  to  him,  what  was  all  in 
his  life,  that  was  the  glory  of  his  Divine  Master. 
Calvin  never  did  what  he  wished,  one  can  say  that 
he  always  did  the  contrary  of  what  he  felt  inclined  to 
do.  In  Basel,  when  he  published  his  Institutes,  in 
Geneva  when  Farel  forces  him  to  take  up  the  reins  of 
ecclesiastical  government,  later  on  when  the  Genevese 
want  him  back  to  their  town,  and  every  sense  within 
him  rebels  against  the  very  idea,  he  was  not  seeking 
his  own  will.  "I  know  them,"  he  exclaimed,  speaking 
of  the  citizens  of  Geneva,  "they  are  insupportable  to 
me  and  I  to  them.  I  shudder  at  the  very  thought  of 
seeing  them  again." 

To  drive  him  out  of  that  retired  life  and  make  of 
him  an  actor  in  the  great  tragedy  of  the  world,  it  re- 
quired more  than  human  intervention.  "It  needed," 
as  Michelet  puts  it,  "an  evident  moral  necessity,  the 
violence  of  conscience  and  of  heaven,  the  tyranny  of 
God."  "Cor  mactatum  in  Sacrificiuni  offcro,"  "I  ofifer 
my  heart  in  sacrifice,"  he  said,  on  returning  to  Geneva, 
and  that  was  what  he  placed  on  his  coat  of  arms :  a 
hand  holding  out  a  heart  and  presenting  it  to  God. 

An  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the  Almighty, — he 
may  have  erred  at  times, — no  one  is  infallible, — he 
may  sometimes  have  mistaken  the  instrument  for  Him 
who  alone  must  wield  it ;  but  without  doubt,  that  per- 
suasion that  he  was  an  instrument  in  God's  hands, 
made  of  Calvin  what  he  was,  and  enabled  him  to  ac- 


286  Calvin  Memorial  Addresses 

complish,  not  in  Geneva,  or  in  France  alone,  but  in 
the  world,  that  tremendous  task,  for  which  we  cannot 
be  too  thankful. 


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